System and method for gate monitoring during departure or arrival of an autonomous vehicle

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a storage device, for monitoring a vehicle access point. In one aspect, a monitoring system is disclosed that includes a processor and a computer storage media storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations. The operations may include obtaining, by the monitoring system, monitoring system data that is generated by a first monitoring system component, determining, by the monitoring system and based on the monitoring system data, a current occupancy of a vehicle, determining, by the monitoring system and based on the current occupancy of the vehicle, whether a vehicle access point is to be monitored, and in response to determining, by the monitoring system and based on the current occupancy of the vehicle, that the vehicle is not occupied by a human occupant, using one or more second monitoring system components to monitor the vehicle access point.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/558,080 filed Sep. 13, 2017 and entitled “System andMethod for Gate Monitoring during Departure or Arrival of an AutonomousVehicle,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Autonomous vehicles are becoming a reality. These vehicles will have asubstantial impact on a variety of industries. For example, autonomousvehicles may be configured to execute a variety of tasks such asautomated parking, running errands (e.g., picking up groceries, pickingup kids for daycare, driving into a shop for routine vehiclemaintenance, etc.) for their owner, earning money as a driverless taxi,etc. Such autonomous vehicles can create challenges for a monitoringsystem installed at a property.

SUMMARY

According to one innovative aspect of the present disclosure, a systemfor monitoring a vehicle access point during departure and arrival of anautonomous vehicle is disclosed. In one aspect, the monitoring systemfor monitoring a property may include one or more processors and one ormore computer storage media storing instructions that are operable, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, to cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations. In some implementations, theoperations may include obtaining, by the monitoring system, monitoringsystem data that is generated by one or more first monitoring systemcomponents, determining, by the monitoring system and based on themonitoring system data, a current occupancy of a vehicle, determining,by the monitoring system and based on the current occupancy of thevehicle, whether a vehicle access point is to be monitored, and inresponse to determining, by the monitoring system and based on thecurrent occupancy of the vehicle, that the vehicle is not occupied by ahuman occupant, using one or more second monitoring system components tomonitor the vehicle access point.

Other aspects include corresponding methods, apparatus, and computerprograms to perform actions of methods defined by instructions encodedon computer storage devices.

These and other versions may optionally include one or more of thefollowing features. For instance, in some implementations, theoperations may further include in response to determining, by themonitoring system and based on the current occupancy of the vehicle,that the vehicle is occupied by a human occupant, determining, whetherthe human occupant is an authorized human occupant and in response todetermining, by the monitoring system, that the human occupant is not anunauthorized human occupant, triggering the performance of one or moresecurity operations.

In some implementations, the one or more security operations may include(i) transmitting an alert message to one or more other components of themonitoring system that alerts the one or more other components of themonitoring system of the detection of the unauthorized human occupant,(ii) transmitting an alert message to a user device that alerts the userof the user device of the detection of the unauthorized human occupant,(iii) transmitting an instruction that triggers an audible alarm at theproperty, (iv) transmitting a notification to one or more lawenforcement agencies indicating that the unauthorized person has beendetected, or (v) transmitting an instruction that instructs a drone todispatch and (a) capture images or video of the unauthorized humanoccupant or (b) follow the vehicle.

In some implementations, the operations may further include in responseto determining, by the monitoring system and based on the currentoccupancy of the vehicle, that the vehicle is occupied by a humanoccupant, determining, whether the human occupant is an authorized humanoccupant, and in response to determining, by the monitoring system, thatthe human occupant is an authorized human occupant, disregarding sensordata and camera data generated by the one or more second monitoringsystem components configured to monitor the vehicle access point.

In some implementations, the one or more first monitoring systemcomponents includes a camera that is installed (i) in a garage or (ii)in the vehicle. In such implementations, obtaining, by the monitoringsystem, monitoring system data that is generated by one or more firstmonitoring system components may include obtaining, by the monitoringsystem, an image that is generated by the camera and determining, by themonitoring system and based on the monitoring system data, a currentoccupancy of the vehicle may include determining, by the monitoringsystem and based on the obtained image, the current occupancy of thevehicle.

In some implementations, determining, by the monitoring system and basedon the obtained image, the occupancy of the vehicle may includedetermining, by the monitoring system, whether the obtained imagedepicts a human object.

In some implementations, the one or more first monitoring systemcomponents includes one or more sensors installed in the vehicle. Insuch implementations, obtaining, by the monitoring system, monitoringsystem data that is generated by one or more first monitoring systemcomponents may include obtaining, by the monitoring system, humanoccupancy data from the vehicle, wherein the human occupancy dataindicates whether there is a human object present in the vehicle anddetermining, by the monitoring system and based on the monitoring systemdata, a current occupancy of the vehicle may include determining, by themonitoring system and based on the human occupancy data, whether thevehicle currently includes a human occupant.

In some implementations, using one or more second monitoring systemcomponents to monitor the vehicle access point may include obtaining, bythe monitoring system, camera data representing one or more images ofthe vehicle access point and determining, by the monitoring system,whether the camera data depicts one or more objects within a vicinity ofthe vehicle access point.

In some implementations, the operations may further include in responseto determining, by the monitoring system, that the camera data depictsone or more objects within the vicinity of the vehicle access point,triggering the performance of one or more security operations.

In some implementations the one or more security operations include (i)transmitting an alert message to one or more other components of themonitoring system that alerts the one or more other components of themonitoring system of the detection of the one or more objects within thevicinity of the vehicle access point, (ii) transmitting an alert messageto a user device that alerts the user of the user device of thedetection of the one or more objects within the vicinity of the vehicleaccess point, (iii) transmitting an instruction that triggers an audiblealarm at the property, (iv) transmitting a notification to one or morelaw enforcement agencies that alerts the one or more law enforcementagencies of the detection of the one or more objects within the vicinityof the vehicle access point, or (v) transmitting an instruction thatinstructs a drone to dispatch and (a) capture images or video of the oneor more detected objects or (b) follow the one or more detected objects.

In some implementations, using one or more second monitoring systemcomponents to monitor the vehicle access point may include disregardingsensor data generated by one or more motions sensors installed in agarage at the property, obtaining, by the monitoring system, camera datarepresenting one or more images of the vehicle access point, anddetermining, by the monitoring system, whether the camera data depictsone or more objects within a vicinity of the vehicle access point.

In some implementations, the operations may further include determining,by the monitoring system, that the one or more objects detected withinthe vicinity of the vehicle access point includes a human object and inresponse to determining, by the monitoring system, that the one or moreobjects detected within the vicinity of the vehicle access pointincludes a human object, performing facial recognition analysis of thehuman object.

In some implementations, the one or more second monitoring systemcomponents includes a camera. In such implementations, using one or moresecond monitoring system components to monitor the vehicle access pointcomprises generating, by the camera, camera data representing one ormore images of the vehicle access point, determining, by the camera,that the camera data depicts one or more objects within a vicinity ofthe vehicle access point, and transmitting, by the camera and to themonitoring system, data indicating that an object has been detectedwithin a vicinity of the vehicle access point.

In some implementations, determining, by the camera, that the cameradata depicts one or more objects within a vicinity of the vehicle accesspoint may include obtaining, by the camera, a set of features based onthe camera data generated by the camera, determining, by the camera,whether the set of features are within a predetermined similarity levelof a stored model representing one or more reference objects, and inresponse to determining, by the camera, that the set of feature arewithin a predetermined similarity level of the stored model,transmitting, by the camera and to the monitoring system, dataindicating that an object has been detected within a vicinity of thevehicle access point.

According to one innovative aspect of the present disclosure, a systemfor monitoring a vehicle access point during departure and arrival of anautonomous vehicle is disclosed. In one aspect, the monitoring systemfor monitoring a property may include one or more processors and one ormore computer storage media storing instructions that are operable, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, to cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations. In some implementations, theoperations may include obtaining, by the monitoring system, firstmonitoring system data that is generated by a first monitoring systemcomponent and that reflects activity within a threshold distance of theproperty, based on the first monitoring system data, determining, by themonitoring system, a current occupancy of a vehicle within the thresholddistance of the property, in response to determining that the vehiclewithin the threshold distance of the property is unoccupied,determining, by the monitoring system, whether to monitor a vehicleaccess point of the property, based on determining to monitor thevehicle access point of the property, obtaining, by the monitoringsystem, second monitoring system data that is generated by a secondmonitoring system component and that reflects activity in a vicinity ofthe vehicle access point of the property, and based on the secondmonitoring system data, performing, by the monitoring system, amonitoring system action.

Other aspects include corresponding methods, apparatus, and computerprograms to perform actions of methods defined by instructions encodedon computer storage devices. These and other versions may optionallyinclude one or more of the following features. For instance, in someimplementations, the operations may further include in response todetermining that the vehicle within the threshold distance of theproperty is occupied, determining whether the vehicle is occupied by aresident of the property and in response to determining, by themonitoring system, that the vehicle is occupied by a person other thanthe resident of the property, performing the monitoring system action byperforming a security operation.

In some implementations, performing the security operation may include(i) transmitting an alert message to a third monitoring system componentthat alerts the third monitoring system component of the detection ofthe person other than the resident of the property, (ii) transmitting analert message to a user device that alerts the resident of the detectionof the person other than the resident of the property, (iii)transmitting an instruction that triggers an audible alarm at theproperty, (iv) transmitting a notification to one or more lawenforcement agencies indicating that the person other than the residentof the property has been detected, or (v) transmitting an instructionthat instructs a drone to dispatch and (a) capture images or video ofthe person other than the resident of the property or (b) follow thevehicle.

In some implementations, the operations may further include in responseto determining that the vehicle within the threshold distance isoccupied, determining whether the vehicle is occupied by a resident ofthe property and in response to determining, by the monitoring system,that the vehicle is occupied by a resident of the property, disregardingthe second monitoring system data that is generated by the secondmonitoring system component and that reflects activity in the vicinityof the vehicle access point of the property.

In some implementations, determining, by the monitoring system and basedon the obtained image, the current occupancy of the vehicle may includedetermining, by the monitoring system, whether the obtained imagedepicts a human.

In some implementations, the first monitoring system component mayinclude a sensor. In such implementations, obtaining, by the monitoringsystem, first monitoring system data that is generated by a firstmonitoring system component may include obtaining, by the monitoringsystem, sensor data generated by the sensor and determining, by themonitoring system and based on the first monitoring system data, acurrent occupancy of the vehicle may include determining, by themonitoring system and based on the sensor data, the current occupancy ofthe vehicle.

In some implementations, obtaining second monitoring system data that isgenerated by the second monitoring system component and that reflectsactivity in the vicinity of the vehicle access point of the property mayinclude obtaining, by the monitoring system, camera data representingone or more images of the vicinity of the vehicle access point of theproperty and determining, by the monitoring system, whether the cameradata depicts one or more objects within the vicinity of the vehicleaccess point of the property.

In some implementations, the operations may further include in responseto determining, by the monitoring system, that the camera data depictsone or more objects within the vicinity of the vehicle access point ofthe property, performing the monitoring system action by performing asecurity operation.

In some implementations, the operations may further include disregardingsensor data generated by one or more motions sensors installed in agarage at the property, obtaining, by the monitoring system, camera datarepresenting one or more images of a garage door, and determining, bythe monitoring system, whether the camera data depicts one or moreobjects within a vicinity of the garage door.

In some implementations, the operations may further include determining,by the monitoring system, that the one or more objects within thevicinity of the garage door includes a human and in response todetermining, by the monitoring system, that the one or more objectswithin the vicinity of the garage door includes a human, performingfacial recognition analysis on the one or more images.

In some implementations, the second monitoring system is a camera. Insuch implementations, the operations may include generating, by thecamera, camera data representing one or more images of the vehicleaccess point of the property, determining, by the camera, that thecamera data depicts one or more objects within a vicinity of the vehicleaccess point of the property, and transmitting, by the camera and to themonitoring system, data indicating that an object has been detectedwithin a vicinity of the vehicle access point of the property.

In some implementations, determining, by the camera, that the cameradata depicts one or more objects within a vicinity of the vehicle accesspoint of the property may include obtaining, by the camera, a set offeatures based on the camera data generated by the camera, determining,by the camera, whether the set of features are within a predeterminedsimilarity level of a stored model representing one or more referenceobjects, and in response to determining, by the camera, that the set offeatures are within a predetermined similarity level of the storedmodel, transmitting, by the camera and to the monitoring system, dataindicating that an object has been detected within a vicinity of thevehicle access point of the property.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 a block diagram of a system for gate monitoring during departureor arrival of an autonomous vehicle.

FIGS. 2A to 2D are contextual diagrams of a system for gate monitoringduring departure of an autonomous vehicle through a gate when a humanperson is not present inside the autonomous vehicle.

FIGS. 3A to 3D are contextual diagrams of a system for gate monitoringduring departure of an autonomous vehicle through a gate when a humanperson is present inside the autonomous vehicle.

FIG. 4A is a contextual diagram of a system for gate monitoring duringarrival of an autonomous vehicle at a gate when a human person is notpresent inside the autonomous vehicle.

FIG. 4B is a contextual diagram of a system for gate monitoring duringarrival of an autonomous vehicle at a gate when a human person ispresent inside the autonomous vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process for monitoring a gate during arrivalor departure of an autonomous vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another process for monitoring a gate duringdeparture of an autonomous vehicle.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another process for monitoring a gate duringarrival of an autonomous vehicle.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of system components that can be used tomonitor a gate during arrival or departure of an autonomous vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Gates such as gates to the entrance to a driveway, an entrance to acommercial parking garage, a garage door of a residential parkinggarage, or the like can be a point of vulnerability for a monitoringsystem. Typically, the risk associated with this vulnerability ismitigated by the fact that a human person who is a legitimate occupantof the property associated with the gate is present when the gate isopening to allow a human person to enter or exit through the gate.Because a human person who is a legitimate occupant of the property ispresent when the gate opens, the human person can have a generalawareness of the his/her surroundings and potential security threatssuch as a trespasser piggy-backing through the open gate. Moreover, atrespasser may be less likely to piggy-back through the gate due to thepresence of a human person who is a legitimate occupant of the propertybeing present at the time the gate is open.

The most common occurrence of gate vulnerability occurs when a gate isopened to allow a vehicle such as an automobile to enter or exit aproperty. In such instances, a human person who is a legitimate occupantof the property has historically been present when the gate is opened orclosed because a human person has been required to operate the vehicle.However, we are on the verge of technological breakthroughs that willmake fully autonomous vehicles a reality. A fully autonomous vehicle(hereinafter “autonomous vehicle”) may include a vehicle such as anautomobile that is capable of starting up and navigating from point A topoint B within any human interaction other than a received instructionto perform a task. The instructions may include a “go” instruction, atask identifier, a location identifier, an address, a set of addresses,or a combination thereof. Because of these technological breakthroughs,a human person will no longer be required to operate the vehicle. Infact, there will no longer be a requirement for a human person to bepresent in the autonomous vehicle when the vehicle departs from theproperty, returns to the property, or both. In these scenarios, a windowof opportunity arises for a trespasser to piggy-back into the propertyduring the time period that the gate is opened to allow an autonomousvehicle to enter or exit the property. For purposes of this disclosure,“piggy-backing” into a property may include a person sneaking into theproperty via the gate opening during the period of time that the gatewas legitimately opened for an autonomous vehicle.

The disclosed system and method can also be used to mitigate othersecurity risk that can arise in the age of autonomous vehicles. Forexample, the system and method disclosed herein that can be used todetect unauthorized “hitchhiking” using an autonomous vehicle. “Hitchhiking” may include a person who is not a resident (or other legitimateoccupant of the property) gaining access to the inside of the autonomousvehicle and trying to sneak into a property by riding inside theautonomous vehicle through gate.

The system and method disclosed herein mitigate security risksassociated with an autonomous vehicle by (i) disaggregating sensor datagenerated and broadcast during an autonomous vehicle's entrance or exitthrough a gate and (ii) analyzing video of the gate opening, images ofthe gate opening, or a combination thereof. The system and method formitigating security risks associated with an autonomous vehicle isdescribed in more detailed below. In some implementations, anapplication programming interface (API) is used to facilitatecommunication between an autonomous vehicle and a monitoring unit (e.g.,monitoring system control unit 110, monitoring application server 190,or the like).

FIG. 1 a block diagram of a system 100 for gate monitoring duringdeparture or arrival of an autonomous vehicle. The system 100 mayinclude one or more of a property 101, one or more cameras 101 a, 101 b,garage 105, a monitoring system control unit 110, one or more cameras130 a, 130 b, a local network 140, an autonomous vehicle 150, a plug-inwidget 160, a third-party server 170, a remote network 180, a monitoringapplication server 190, a central station server 192, or a combinationthereof.

The autonomous vehicle 150 is capable of autonomously navigating to adestination without the aid of a human person to operate the vehiclewhile navigating. For example, a human person may input one or moreinstructions such as a destination address, and instruct the autonomousvehicle to travel to the destination address. However, the human personwould not drive the car to the destination address. Instead, theautonomous vehicle 150 performs actions of driving and navigation. Insome instances, the autonomous vehicle 150 may be configured to a manualmode. In such instances, though fully capable of driving and navigatingwithout human interaction, the autonomous vehicle 150 may be driven, inmanual mode, by a human user.

The autonomous vehicle 150 can include a network interface that enablesthe autonomous vehicle 150 to communicate with at least a third-partyserver 170 hosting one or more third party cloud-based services. Forexample, the third-party server 170 may be configured to obtaincommunications transmitted by the autonomous vehicle 150 and relay theobtain communication via the remote network 180 to a monitoringapplication server 190 of a monitoring system provider. The monitoringapplication server 190 may host one or more cloud-based services thatcan be used to monitor operations at a property such as property 101,the garage 105 or property 101, or one or more other properties that aresubscribed to the monitoring services provided by the monitoring systemprovider. The monitoring application server 190 may include anapplication programming interface (API) that allows the monitoringapplication server 190 to interface with the third-party server 170.Alternatively, or in addition, the API can be included in the monitoringsystem control unit 110.

The remote network 180 may include a LAN, a WAN, a cellular network, theInternet, or the like. In some implementations, the remote network 180may a wireless network such as a Wi-Fi network, a cellular network, orthe like. Alternatively, one or more portions of the remote network 180may also be implemented using wired network such as an Ethernet network,a cable network, a fiber optic network, or the like.

The API includes one or more software modules that can enable themonitoring application server 190 to interface with the third-partyserver 170. For example, the API enables the monitoring applicationserver 190 to receive communications from the autonomous vehicle 150that have been obtained by the third-party server 170 and relayed to themonitoring application server 190. For example, the autonomous vehicle150 may broadcast data indicative of the human occupancy of theautonomous vehicle 150. By way of example, the autonomous vehicle 150may include one or more occupancy sensors that generate sensor dataindicative of whether one or more human persons are occupying thevehicle. The occupancy sensors may include, for example, one or morepressure sensors in each respective seat of the autonomous vehicle 150detect whether a human person is sitting in a seat of the autonomousvehicle 150, one or more thermal sensors to detect heat from humanpersons inside the autonomous vehicle 150, one or more cameras tocapture video, images, or both, that can be analyzed for the presence ofhuman persons inside the autonomous vehicle 150, or a combinationthereof.

Alternatively, or in addition, the autonomous vehicle 150 may broadcastdata indicative of the particular task that the autonomous vehicle 150is currently engaged in. For example, the autonomous vehicle 150 maybroadcast data indicative of whether the autonomous vehicle 150 is inmanual drive mode (e.g., being driven by a human person) or autonomousdrive mode (e.g., being driven autonomously by the vehicle without humaninteraction). In some implementations, the data indicative of aparticular task broadcast by the autonomous vehicle 150 may include, forexample, a task-type such as pick-up kids from school, get oil change,pick-up groceries, giving driver-less taxi rides, dropping-offautonomous vehicle owner at work, picking-up autonomous vehicle ownerfrom work, or the like.

In some implementations, the autonomous vehicle 150 may be able tocommunicate with the monitoring application server 190 directly, withoutusing the third-party server 170. For example, the autonomous vehicle150 may have one or more plug-in widgets 160 installed. The one or moreplug-in widgets 160 may include one or more software modules that enablethe autonomous vehicle 150 to directly communicate with the monitoringapplication server 190 via the remote network 180. In suchimplementations, the API installed on the monitoring application server190 can be configured to interface with the plug-in widget 160. Theplug-in widget may be configured to broadcast data across the remotenetwork 180 such as data that is indicative of human occupancy of theautonomous vehicle 150, data that is indicative of the current task ofthe autonomous vehicle 150, or the like.

The API that enables the cloud-based monitoring servers to interfacewith, and receive communications from, the autonomous vehicle 150 isdescribed as being installed on the monitoring application server 190.However, the present disclosure need not be so limited. For example, theAPI may alternatively (or additionally) be installed on the monitoringsystem control unit 110. In such implementations, the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 can be enabled to interface with, and receivecommunications from, the autonomous vehicle 150 in the same manner asthe monitoring application server 190 described herein. In general, anyfunctionality described with reference to the monitoring applicationserver 190 in this specification may also be performed by the monitoringsystem control unit 110, and vice versa.

The monitoring application server 190 include one more cloud servicesthat can provide data that broadcasted by the autonomous vehicle 150 andobtained by the API from either the third party server 150, plug-inwidget 160, or both, to the monitoring system control unit (MCU) 110.The monitoring system control unit 110 can monitor (i) sensor databroadcast by one or more sensors (e.g., motion sensors, contact sensors,glass-break sensors, temperatures sensors, energy sensors, carbonmonoxide sensors, smoke sensors, or the like), (ii) camera data capturedby one or more cameras 101 a, 101 b, 130 a, 130 b (e.g., video data,image data, or both), and determine, based on the detected sensors data,detected camera data, or both, whether a potential event is occurring atthe property 101, the garage 105, or the like.

Potential events may include, for example, alarm events (e.g.,trespassing, break-ins, or the like), emergency events (e.g., fires,floods, carbon monoxide, smoke, etc.), family events (e.g., calendarevents), or the like. For example, the monitoring system control unit110 may detect a potential alarm event such as a break-in by a burglarmay be occurring if sensor data from one or more motion sensors when themonitoring system control unit 110 is in an “armed” state. An armedstate may include a state of the monitoring system that indicates thatthe monitoring system control unit 110 may generate data indicative of apotential event if sensor data from one or more motion sensors depictsmovement, one or more contact sensors detect an opening of a door orwindow, one or more glass-break sensors detect the breaking of glass, ora combination thereof. The event notification may be transmitted to themonitoring application server 190 for further processing, furtheranalysis, or both. Then, the monitoring application server 190 candetermine, based on the received event notification, whether to notify acentral alarm station server 192 that a potential event is occurring atthe property 101, the garage 105, or both. In response to receiving thenotification from the monitoring application server 190, the centralalarm station server 192 can dispatch local authorities to the propertyto investigate. Alternatively, or in addition, in some implementations,the monitoring system control unit 110 can transmit the eventnotification data directly to the central alarm station server 192 inorder to trigger dispatching of local authorities.

In some implementations, the central monitoring station server 192 mayimmediately dispatch local authorities without further review of anotification from the monitoring application server 190, monitoringsystem control unit 110, or both. Alternatively, in otherimplementations, the central monitoring station server 192 may performadditional analysis to determine whether to dispatch local authoritiesbased on the notification received from the monitoring applicationserver 190, monitoring system control unit 110, or both.

The monitoring system control unit 110 is also configured to monitorgate openings such as a garage door of the garage 105 that occur when anautonomous vehicle such as autonomous vehicle 150 enters or exits thegarage 105. The “gate opening” may include an opening (e.g., an apertureor gap allowing access) between an indoor portion of a garage and anoutdoor portion of a garage that is (i) exposed when a garage door isopened so that a vehicle can enter/exit or (ii) exposed when a garagedoor is closed after a vehicle has entered/exited. However, the “gateopening” is not limited to an entrance or exit from a garage. Instead,the “opening” of a “gate” may include any vehicle access point that canbe selectively restricted by a physical or non-physical barrier in amanner that permits vehicle passage when the barrier is removed andprohibits vehicle access when the barrier is put back in place.

Monitoring gate openings may include, for example, disaggregating sensordata from one or more sensors installed in the garage 105,disaggregating camera data captured by one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b,or both. In some implementations, the sensor data, camera data, or both,may be disaggregate based on human occupancy of the autonomous vehicle150, a current task of the autonomous vehicle 150, or a combinationthereof. Disaggregating the sensor data, camera data, or both, mayinclude determining when to (i) analyze the sensor data, camera data, orboth, to determine whether a potential event is occurring and (ii)whether to disregard sensor data, camera data, or both.

In some instances, the monitoring system control unit 110 may disregardsensor data, camera data, or both, generated by each of the sensors in(or around) the garage 105, each of the cameras 130 a, 130 b in (oraround) the garage 105, or both, based on (i) human occupancy of theautonomous vehicle 150, (ii) the current task type of the autonomousvehicle 150, or both. In other instances, the monitoring system controlunit 110 may disregard only a subset of sensor data, camera data, orboth, from one or more sensors in (or around) the garage 105, one ormore cameras 130 a, 130 b in (or around) the garage, or both based on(i) human occupancy of the autonomous vehicle 150, (ii) the current tasktype of the autonomous vehicle 150, or both. In yet other instances, themonitoring system control unit 110 may rely on sensor data, camera data,or both, generated by each of the one or more sensors in the garage 105,each of the one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b in the garage, or both,based (i) human occupancy of the autonomous vehicle 150, (ii) thecurrent task type of the autonomous vehicle 150, or a combinationthereof.

By way of example, the monitoring system control unit 110 may disregardsensor data from each of the one or more sensors in the garage 105,camera data from each of the one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b (in oraround) the garage, or both, based on a determination that there is anauthorized human occupant in the autonomous vehicle 150 as theautonomous vehicle approaches within a predetermined distance of a gate(e.g., a garage door). An authorized human occupant may include aresident (or other legitimate occupant) of the property. The monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190)Alternatively, the monitoring system control unit 110 may only disregardsensor data from a subset of the sensors in the garage 105 (e.g., motionsensors, contact sensors, or both) based on determining that anautonomous vehicle 150 does not include any human occupants and analyzevideo, images, or both from one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b in (oraround) the garage for indications of human activity. If human activityis detected based sensor data from one or more sensors whose sensor datais still being monitoring (e.g., glass break sensors) or camera data,then the monitoring system control unit 110 may generate event dataindicative of a potential event. The monitoring system control unit 110may determine human occupancy of a vehicle using sensor data generatedfrom one or more sensors in the garage 105, camera data generated by oneor more cameras 130 a, 130 b in (or around) the garage 105, or vehicledata from autonomous vehicle 150 (e.g., human occupancy data, currenttask type data, or the like).

In some implementations, the monitoring system control unit 110 may be acomputing device such as wall-mounted control panel that is installed atthe property 101. In other implementations, the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 may be a computing device such as a laptop computer,desktop computer, server computer, or the like that resides at theproperty 101. In yet other implementations, the property 101 may nothave any physical computing device installed at the property 101 toperform the operations described (above or below) as being performed bythe monitoring system control unit 110. Instead, in such implementationswhere there is not any physical computing device installed at theproperty 101 to perform the operations described (above or below) asbeing performed by the monitoring system control unit 110, each of thefunctions described as being performed by the monitoring system controlunit 110 may be performed by one or more computers that is remote fromthe property 101 such as the monitoring application server 190 which canbe configured cloud-based monitoring unit to perform all of thefunctions of the monitoring system control unit 110 at a location thatis remote from the property 101.

FIGS. 2A to 2D are contextual diagrams of a system for gate monitoringduring departure of an autonomous vehicle 150 through a gate when ahuman person is not present inside the autonomous vehicle 150.

The system shown in FIGS. 2A-2D is the same system as system 100described with reference to FIG. 1. However, only a portion of thesystem 100 is depicted in FIGS. 2A-2D to describe specific functionalityof the system 100.

FIG. 2A is an example of a garage 105 whose gate 106 (e.g., garage door)is monitored by a monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) during an autonomous vehicle's 150 exit from thegarage 105. In FIG. 2A, the gate 106 is closed. With the gate 106closed, one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b may be visible from theexterior of the garage 105. The one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b may beconfigured to capture video, images, or both, of the entrance to thegarage 105 when the gate 106 is open. Though the cameras 130 a, 130 bare depicted as outside the garage 130, the present disclosure need notbe so limited. For example, the cameras 130 a, 130 b may also beinstalled inside the garage 105 and configured in a manner that allowsthe cameras 130 a, 130 b to capture video, images, or both of theentrance to the garage 105 as the gate 106 opens. The monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 is conceptually depicted in association with the garage105. However, there is no requirement that the monitoring system controlunit 110 be installed in the garage 105. Instead, the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 can be installed in the garage 105, in the property101, or a combination thereof. Alternatively, the one or more of theoperations described herein as being performed by the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 may be performed by a cloud-based monitoring unit suchas the monitoring application server 190.

The monitoring system control unit 110 may communicate with the one ormore sensors in the garage 105, one or more cameras in (or around) thegarage 105, or both, using a local network 140. The local network 140may be comprised of wired networks, wireless networks, or a combinationthereof. The local network 140 may include a LAN, a WAN, a cellularnetwork, a ZigBee network, a z-wave network, the Internet, a combinationthereof, or the like. The local network 140 may be wireless, wired, or acombination of both.

In some implementations, the monitoring application server 190 maycommunicate with the one or more sensors in the garage 105, one or morecameras in (or around) the garage 105, the monitoring system controlunit 110, or a combination thereof, using the local network 140, aremote network 180 (shown in FIG. 1), or both. The remote network 180(shown in FIG. 1) may include, for example, a LAN, a WAN, a cellularnetwork, the Internet, or the like. In some implementations, the remotenetwork 180 may a wireless network such as a Wi-Fi network, a cellularnetwork, or the like. Alternatively, one or more portions of the remotenetwork 180 may also be implemented using wired network such as anEthernet network, a cable network, a fiber optic network, or the like.

FIG. 2B is example of the same garage 105 as depicted in FIG. 2A.However, in the example of FIG. 2B, the gate 106 of the garage 105 ismade transparent so that the inside of the garage 105 can be seen. Thetransparent gate 106 reveals one or more sensors 120 a, 120 b, 120 c,120 d, one or more cameras 130 c, 130 d, and an autonomous vehicle 150that are inside the garage 105.

The one or more cameras such as cameras 130 c, 130 d can be used tocapture video, images, or both, of the inside of the garage 105. Thevideo, images, or both, may include video or images of the areasurrounding the autonomous vehicle 150, video or images of the inside ofthe autonomous vehicle 150 (e.g., driver's seat, passenger's seat, backseat, or the like), or both. In some implementations, the one or morecameras 130 c, 130 d may need to be strategically at an appropriateheight on the garage wall so that the one or more cameras 130 c, 130 dhave a line-of-sight that is able to view inside portions of theautonomous vehicle 150 such as the driver's seat, passenger's seat, backseat, or the like. In some implementations, one or more thermal camerasmay be employed in order to determine whether there is one or moreobjects in the autonomous vehicle having a heat signature thatcorresponds to the heat signature for a human person.

In some implementations, the cameras 130 c, 130 d may transmit capturedvideo, images, or both, to a monitoring system control unit 110,monitoring application server 190, or other monitoring system componentfor analysis to determine whether the captured video, images, or both,include one or more objects such as a human object. In otherimplementations, the cameras 130 c, 130 d may store image modelscomprising one or more images, one or more sets of features representingan image of an object, a trained machine learning model, or somecombination thereof, that may be used, by the camera, to determinewhether a captured image, video, or both, depicts an object such as ahuman object. For example, the cameras 130 c, 130 d may obtain an imageor video, extract a set of features from the obtained image or video,and then determine whether the extracted set of features match a set ofstored features of an image model within a predetermined level ofsimilarity. In such instances, the camera such as a camera 130 c, 130 dmay transmit data representing a determination by the camera thatcaptured image or video depicts an object such as a human object withoutrequiring the camera 130 c, 130 d to transmit the image or video to themonitoring system control unit 110, the monitoring application server190, or other monitoring system component. Such implementations canconserve network bandwidth by not transmitting all captured images,videos, or both, from the camera to other monitoring system components.However, in some implementations, the cameras 130 c, 130 d may beconfigured to store images or video locally (or remotely) for at least apredetermined amount of time. In such implementations, a user of aterminal connected to one or more monitoring system components such asthe monitoring application server 190 may request a captured image orvideo from the camera 130 c, 130 d. Such implementations cansignificantly converse network resources such as bandwidth.

Sensor data generated by the one or more sensors such as sensors 120 a,120 b, 120 c, 120 d can be analyzed by the monitoring system controlunit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) monitor the garage 105.The sensors may include a motion sensors 120 a, a contact sensor 120 b,a glass break sensors 120 c, and a temperature sensors 120 d. Othertypes of sensors may also be installed in the garage 105.

In some implementations, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can also detect human occupancy databroadcast from the autonomous vehicle 150 via the network 140. Humanoccupancy data may include, for example, data from the autonomousvehicle 150 that is indicative of whether the autonomous vehicle 150 hasone or more human occupants. The human occupancy data that is broadcastby the autonomous vehicle 150 can be include, or otherwise be based on,data generated by one or more pressure sensors in the respective seatsof the autonomous vehicle 150, one or more thermal sensors in theautonomous vehicle 150, one or more cameras (e.g., HD cameras, SDcameras, night vision cameras, thermal cameras, or the like) in theautonomous vehicle 150, or the like. Alternatively, or in addition, thehuman occupancy data may be based on current task data broadcast by theautonomous vehicle 150.

The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may disaggregate (i) sensor data obtained from the one or moresensors 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 c and (ii) camera data from the one ormore cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d based on the human occupancy ofthe autonomous vehicle 150. The monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) may determine the human occupancy ofthe autonomous vehicle 150 based on (i) sensor generated by the one ormore sensors 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d, (ii) camera data from one ormore cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d, (ii) human occupancy data fromthe autonomous vehicle 150, or a combination thereof In someimplementations, each type of the aforementioned types of data may notbe available to the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190). For example, the garage 105 may not have one ormore sensors installed, the garage 105 may not have a camera with a viewof each respective seat of the autonomous vehicle 150 (e.g., because ofthe way the autonomous vehicle was last parked in the garage 105), orthe autonomous vehicle 150 (e.g., may not include human occupancysensors because the owner may not have selected that package when he/shepurchased the autonomous vehicle 150). In such instances, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) can makea human occupancy determination based on the subset of data available tothe monitoring system control unit 110 at the particular time. Forexample, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) may determine human occupancy of the autonomousvehicle based on sensor data (e.g., because motion was detected by amotion sensors 120 a immediately before the autonomous vehiclebroadcasted data indicating that it had started its engine) and adetermination that camera data did not depict any human occupants in theautonomous vehicle.

With reference to the example of FIG. 2B, for example, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) maydetermine that autonomous vehicle 150 does not have any human occupantsand that the autonomous vehicle 150 has broadcasted a request to openthe gate 106 so that the autonomous vehicle can leave to perform anerrand (e.g., generate income for car owner by performing driver-lesstaxi rides). In response to the request to open the gate 106, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may begin to disregard sensor data from a subset of the sensors 120a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d in the garage so that the autonomous vehicle 150can leave the garage 105, begin capturing and analyzing (in real-time ornear real-time) camera data captured by the one or more cameras 130 a,130 b with a line of sight of the gate 106 opening, and begin to openthe garage door as shown in FIG. 2C. The motion sensors 120 a and thecontact sensor 120 b are depicted with an message and arrow in a circlewith a line through it because, though the sensors 120 a, 120 b may begenerating and broadcasting sensor data indicating, for example, thatthere is movement in the garage 105 and the contact sensor between thegate 106 and a surface of the garage 105 has been severed, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) will disregard the sensor data from sensors 120 a, 120 b so thatthe autonomous vehicle 150 can enter into the garage 105 withouttriggering an alarm event.

With reference to FIG. 2D, the gate 106 may be sufficiently open for theautonomous vehicle 150 to exit the garage 105. At this time, the motionsensor 120 a may be disabled to allow the autonomous vehicle 150 toleave the garage 105 without triggering a false alarm. This scenariowould create an opportunity for the trespasser 103 to enter into theopening created by the opened gate 106 and allow the trespasser to 103to enter the garage 105.

However, one or more of the cameras such as camera 130 a may capturecamera data 132 such as video, image, or both that is streamed to themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) for analysis. The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can perform video (or image) analytics on thestreamed camera data 132 to determine whether the camera data 132depicts the presence of an object (e.g., a human person such astrespasser 103, an animal, or the like) in the camera data 132. Withreference to the example of FIG. 2D, the monitoring system control unit(or monitoring application server 190) can determine that the cameradata 132 depicts a human person (e.g., trespasser 103).

In some implementations, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) may broadcast data indicative of apotential alarm event based on the detection of a human person enteringinto the garage 105. Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) mayperform facial recognition analysis of one or more video, images, orboth, in the camera data 132 showing the face of a human person (e.g., atrespasser 103) and determine that the human person is not a legitimateoccupant of the property 101. The monitoring system control unit (ormonitoring application server 190) may generate data indicative of apotential alarm event at the property 101 based on detection of thetrespasser 103 attempting to sneak into the garage 105. A notification134 may be transmitted to the monitoring application server 190, thecentral alarm station server 192, or both, based on the generated datathat is indicative of an event, the detected trespasser, or both. Thecentral alarm station server 192 may alert local authorities and requestthat local authorities deploy to the garage 105 of property 101.

The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may perform other operations in response to detecting thetrespasser 103. For example, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) trigger an extremely loud audiblealarm at the garage 105, the property 101, or both, in an effort todisable or disrupt the trespasser 103. Alternatively, or in addition,the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may trigger lights (e.g., connected lights, extremely bright &connected strobe lights, etc.) to flash on and off, repeatedly, at theproperty to disorient the trespasser. The monitoring system control unit110 (or monitoring application server 190) may instruct a flying drone(e.g., a quad-copter) to deploy and confront the trespasser 103 byoutputting extremely loud music, flashing extremely bright lights,swarming the trespasser 103, or the like in an effort to chase thetrespasser 103 away from the garage 105 or property 101. The flyingdrone may lock-on to the trespasser 103, follow the trespasser 103, andreport the trespasser's 103 location to local authorities that can findthe trespasser 103 and apprehend the trespasser 103 using location datafrom the flying drone. The flying drone can be stationed on a chargingpad inside the garage 105 or on a charging pad outside the garage 105.

Alternatively, or in addition, in response to the detection of apotential alarm event (e.g., detection of a trespasser 103, detection ofa potential burglar, detection of a broken window, detection of motionin the house when security system is in an armed-away state, detectionof triggered contact sensor, or the like), the autonomous vehicle 150can be used as an extension of the monitoring system controlled by themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190). For example, after detecting a potential alarm event, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may communicate with the autonomous vehicle 150 to determine thelocation of the autonomous vehicle 150. If the monitoring system controlunit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) determines that theautonomous vehicle 150 is located at the property 101 (or within apredetermined distances of the property 101), then the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) can trigger theautonomous vehicle's 150 car alarm and lights to off. This can resultloud sounds and blinking lights that can attract attention to theproperty, scare the trespasser or burglar away, both, using highlyaudible and visible signals that can rouse neighbors and be detectablethroughout the community. If the autonomous vehicle 150 is not within apredetermined distance of the property 101, then the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110, the monitoring application server 190, or both, mayinstruct the autonomous vehicle 150 to return to the property 101 andperform one or operations (e.g., sounding a car alarm, flashing lights,one or more of the operations described below, or the like).

Alternatively, or in addition, to the triggering of the car alarm andlights, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can instruct the autonomous vehicle to activateLight Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensors, Radio Detection and Ranging(RADAR) sensors, Sound Navigation and Ranging (SONAR) sensors, or thelike of the autonomous vehicle 150 that can scan for the presence ofobjects such as human intruders on the property 101. The autonomousvehicle 150 can use LIDAR, RADAR, SONAR, or a combination thereof todetermine the number of fleeing individuals on the property 101. Theautonomous vehicle 150 can use the LIDAR, RADAR, or SONAR sensors totrack individuals fleeing form the garage 105, the property 101, orboth, and record the direction that the individuals flee. Lawenforcement, or some other individual, may later access the recordedinformation and determine the number of trespassers, the direction inwhich the trespassers fled, or a combination thereof. In someimplementations, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) may activate one or more cameras of theautonomous vehicle to capture video of the trespassers. The video mayrecorded on a local storage device of the autonomous vehicle 150, orstreamed to a remote location such as to the monitoring system controlunit 110, the monitoring application server 190, a user's computer, auser's mobile device, a cloud storage device, or the like.

Alternatively, or in addition, the autonomous vehicle 150 may broadcasttracking data determined based on the use of LIDAR, RADAR, SONAR, or thelike to track one or more fleeing trespassers. Alternatively, or inaddition, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) may determine, based on analysis of video,images, or both that can be detected by the monitoring system controlunit 110 (or the monitoring application server 190). Then, based oneither the broadcasted tracking data or the video/image analysis, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may determine that the one or more trespassers are fleeing. Inresponse, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) may instruct the autonomous vehicle 150 tofollowing the fleeing trespassers. The autonomous vehicle 150 maycontinue to follow the fleeing trespassers and transmit the location ofthe fleeing trespassers to the monitoring system control unit 110, themonitoring application server 190, the central alarm station server 192,or a combination thereof.

The autonomous vehicle 150 may be integrated into the monitoring systemin other ways. For example, since the autonomous vehicle 150 can beparked inside the garage 105, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can monitor sensor data generated bythe one or more sensors that are inside the garage to make sure theenvironment inside the garage is safe for human persons to enter. Forexample, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can monitor sensor data generated by one or morecarbon monoxide sensors inside the garage.

In some implementations, for example, an autonomous vehicle 150 may bein the garage and have its ignition turn on. This can result in exhaustgases from the car being output into the enclosed space of the garage105. The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring applicationserver 190) can detect the output of deadly gases such as carbonmonoxide based on sensor data generated by one or more carbon monoxidesensors, determine whether the autonomous vehicle 150 is inside thegarage 105, determine the stage of the gate 106 (e.g., garage door), andperform one or more operations. For example, in response to detectingcarbon monoxide in the garage 105, the monitoring system control unit110 (or monitoring application server 190) can transmit an instructionto the autonomous vehicle 150 to instruct the autonomous vehicle to shutoff its ignitions.

In some implementations, based on (i) the arming state of the monitoringsystem (e.g., armed-home, armed-away, not-armed), (ii) perceivedoccupancy in the garage, or both, the monitoring system control unit 110(or monitoring application server 190) may transmit an instruction to agate 106 opening device to open the gate 106. This can allow the garageto air-out, and restore the environment inside the garage 105 to anenvironment that is safe for a human person to breathe. In addition, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) can instruct the autonomous vehicle to move through the open gate106 and out of the garage 105, in order to allow the garage 105 to airout.

The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) can prioritize the factors that are considered when determiningwhether to instruct the gate 106 to open. For example, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) canassign a higher weight to the perceived occupancy of a human person inthe garage than a weight that is assigned to the arming state of themonitoring system. In such instances, for example, even if themonitoring system is in one or more “armed” states, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) mayinstruct the gate 106 to open in an effort to have the garage 105air-out.

Though using a vehicle as a device that is monitored by the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190), anextension of the monitoring system, or both, is described as anautonomous vehicle 150, the present disclosure need not be so limited.For example, any connected vehicle can be used as an extension of themonitoring system in the manner described above without necessarilybeing “autonomous.”

FIGS. 3A to 3D are contextual diagrams of a system for gate 106monitoring during departure of an autonomous vehicle 150 through a gatewhen a human person is present inside the autonomous vehicle 150.

The system shown in FIGS. 3A-3D is the same system as system describedwith reference to FIG. 1. However, only a portion of the system 100 isdepicted in FIGS. 3A-3D to describe specific functionality of the system100.

FIG. 3A is an example of a garage 105 whose gate 106 (e.g., garage door)is monitored by a monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) during an autonomous vehicle's 150 exit from thegarage 105. The garage 105 shown in FIG. 3A is the same garage as shownin FIG. 2A. However, FIGS. 3B to 3D describe the operation of the system100 in a different context than the system 100 in FIGS. 2B to 2D.

FIG. 3B is example of the same garage 105 as depicted in FIGS. 2A, 3A.However, in the example of FIG. 3B, the gate 106 of the garage 105 ismade transparent so that the inside of the garage 105 can be seen. Thetransparent gate 106 reveals one or more sensors 120 a, 120 b, 120 c,120 d, one or more cameras 130 c, 130 d, and an autonomous vehicle 150that are inside the garage 105. In addition, the transparent gate 106reveals that a human person 102 is standing within the garage 105 andready to get into the autonomous vehicle 150.

By way of example, with reference to FIG. 3B, the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) can determinethat a human person 102 is moving within the vicinity of the autonomousvehicle 150 based on sensor data generated by a motion sensors 120 a,based on analysis of camera data generated by one or more cameras 130 a,130 b, 130 c, 130 d, or the like. The human person 102 may enter theautonomous vehicle 150, and the engine of the autonomous vehicle 150 maybe started by the human person 102 or the autonomous vehicle. Theautonomous vehicle 150 may broadcast data indicating that the autonomousvehicle's 150 engine has been started. The monitoring system controlunit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) may determine, based ondetecting the data broadcast by the autonomous vehicle 150 that theautonomous vehicle has a human occupant. In the example of FIG. 3B, theautonomous vehicle 150 may, for example, drive the human person 102 towork.

Alternatively, or in addition, the autonomous vehicle 150 may detectthat a human person has entered the autonomous vehicle 150 and generateand broadcast human occupancy data indicating that one or more humanpersons are present in the autonomous vehicle 150. For example, theautonomous vehicle 150 may determine that the door of the autonomousvehicle 150 has been opened and that the pressure sensors in one or moreseats are generating sensor data indicating that a human person ispresent in the autonomous vehicle 150. Alternatively, or in addition,the autonomous vehicle 150 may determine, based on camera data from oneor more cameras inside the autonomous vehicle 150 that the human personis present in the autonomous vehicle 150. Alternatively, or in addition,the autonomous vehicle 150 may determine that a human occupant is in thecar based on a driving instruction received by the autonomous vehicle150. For example, the autonomous vehicle 150 may determine, based on aninstruction such as a voice input instruction such as “drive me towork,” that a human occupant is in the vehicle. In each of theaforementioned instances, the autonomous vehicle 150 may determine thata human person is an occupant of the autonomous vehicle 150, andbroadcast human occupancy data indicating that the autonomous vehicle150 has a human occupant via the network 140.

The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may determine, based on sensor data from a motion sensors 120 a,camera data from one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d, humanoccupancy data broadcasted by the autonomous vehicle 150, that theautonomous vehicle 150 has a human occupant such as human person 102.The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may disaggregate sensor data, camera data, or both, based on thedetermination that the autonomous vehicle 150 includes a human occupant.

With reference to the example of FIG. 3B, for example, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) maydetermine that autonomous vehicle 150 has a human occupant and that theautonomous vehicle 150 has broadcasted a request to open the gate 106 sothat the autonomous vehicle can leave on trip such as driving the humanoccupant to work. In response to the request to open the gate 106, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may begin to disregard sensor data from each of the sensors 120 a,120 b, 120 c, 120 d in the garage so that the autonomous vehicle 150 canleave the garage 105 and disregard camera data captured by the one ormore cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d. The monitoring system controlunit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) disregards sensor datafrom each of the sensors 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d and disregardscamera data from each of the one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130 c,130 d because a human occupant 102 is present in the autonomous vehicle150. In FIG. 3C, the motion sensor 120 a, the contact sensor 120 b, andthe cameras 130 a, 130 b are depicted with a message and arrow in acircle with a line through it because the monitoring system control unit110 (or monitoring application server 190) will disregard sensor datafrom sensors 120 a, 120 b and camera data from cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130c, 130 d. In some implementations, the cameras 130 a, 130 b may beconfigured to not capture video of the gate 106 opening when a humanperson is present in the autonomous vehicle 150 (as opposed to capturingcamera data that is disregarded).

With reference to FIG. 3D, the gate 106 may be sufficiently open for theautonomous vehicle 150 to exit the garage 105. At this time, the motionsensor 120 a may be disabled to allow the autonomous vehicle 150 toleave the garage 105 without triggering a false alarm. This scenariowould create an opportunity for the trespasser 103 to enter into theopening created by the opened gate 106 and allow the trespasser to 103to enter the garage 105. However, human occupant such as human person102 can see the trespasser 103, and use a user device to transmit aninstruction to the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) to generate data indicative of a potential alarmevent at the property 101 based on the trespasser 103 attempting tosneak into the garage 105. A notification may be transmitted to thecentral alarm station server 192 based on the generated event, thedetected trespasser, or both. The central alarm station server 192 mayalert local authorities and request that local authorities deploy to thegarage 105 of property 101.

The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may perform other operations in response to the detection of thetrespasser 103. For example, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can trigger an extremely loud audiblealarm at the garage 105, the property 101, or both, in an effort todisable or disrupt the trespasser 103. Alternatively, or in addition,the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may trigger lights (e.g., connected lights, extremely bright &connected strobe lights, etc.) to flash on and off, repeatedly, at theproperty to disorient the trespasser. The monitoring system control unit110 (or monitoring application server 190) may instruct a flying drone(e.g., a quad-copter) to deploy and confront the trespasser 103 byoutputting extremely loud music, flashing extremely bright lights,swarming the trespasser 103, or the like in an effort to chase thetrespasser 103 away from the garage 105 or property 101. The flyingdrone may lock-on to the trespasser 103, follow the trespasser 103, andreport the trespasser's 103 location to local authorities that can findthe trespasser 103 and apprehend the trespasser 103 using location datafrom the flying drone. The flying drone can be stationed on a chargingpad inside the garage 105 or on a charging pad outside the garage 105.

Alternatively, or in addition, in response to the detection of apotential alarm event (e.g., detection of a trespasser 103, detection ofa potential burglar, detection of a broken window, detection of motionin the house when security system is in an armed-away state, detectionof triggered contact sensor, or the like), the autonomous vehicle 150can be used as an extension of the monitoring system controlled by themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190). For example, after detecting a potential alarm event, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may communicate with the autonomous vehicle 150 to determine thelocation of the autonomous vehicle 150. If the monitoring system controlunit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) determines that theautonomous vehicle 150 is located at the property 101 (or within apredetermined distances of the property 101), then the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) can trigger theautonomous vehicle's 150 car alarm and lights to off. This can resultloud sounds and blinking lights that can attract attention to theproperty, scare the trespasser or burglar away, both, using highlyaudible and visible signals that can rouse neighbors and be detectablethroughout the community. If the autonomous vehicle 150 is not within apredetermined distance of the property 101, then the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110, the monitoring application server 190, or both, mayinstruct the autonomous vehicle 150 to return to the property 101 andperform one or operations (e.g., sounding a car alarm, flashing lights,one or more of the operations described below, or the like).

The aforementioned description of FIGS. 3A to 3D describes a scenariowherein the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) determines to not use the gate 105 surveillancetechniques described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2A-2D because a humanperson is present the autonomous vehicle 150. However, the presentdisclosure need not be so limited. For example, in some implementations,the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) can use the same disaggregation techniques to monitor a gate 106opening when a human occupant is present in the autonomous vehicle 150as when there is no human occupant of the autonomous vehicle 150 asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2A-2D.

FIG. 4A is a contextual diagram of a system for gate 106 monitoringduring arrival of an autonomous vehicle 150 at a gate when a humanperson is not present inside the autonomous vehicle 150.

The system shown in FIGS. 4A is the same as system 100 described withreference to FIG. 1. However, only a portion of the system 100 isdepicted in FIG. 4A to describe specific functionality of the system100.

FIG. 4A is an example of a garage 105 whose gate 106 (e.g., garage door)is monitored by a monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) during an autonomous vehicle's 150 return to thegarage 105 from a different location (e.g., after an autonomous vehicle150 has dropped off a human occupant at work and returned home to garage105). The garage 105 shown in FIG. 4A is the same garage as shown inFIGS. 2A and 3A. However, FIG. 4A describes the operation of the system100 in a different context than the system 100 in FIGS. 2B to 2D and 3Bto 3D.

As the autonomous vehicle 150 approaches the garage 105, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) maydetect vehicle 150 based on data generated by one or more monitoringsystem components. For example, the monitoring system control unit 110(or monitoring application server 190) may detect, based on sensor datafrom one or more sensors (e.g., motion sensors in a driveway), analysisof camera data (e.g., video, images, or both) from one or more cameras130 a, 130 b, or a combination thereof, that a vehicle 150 isapproaching the gate 106.

Based on detecting the vehicle 150, the one or more cameras 130 a, 130 bmay capture camera data 132 (e.g., video, images, or both) of theautonomous vehicle 150, and broadcast the captured camera data 132 viathe network 140. The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) detect the broadcasted camera data 132 anddetermine, based on the camera data 132, whether the autonomous vehicle150 is an authorized autonomous vehicle 150 before opening the gate 106.For example, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can analyze the make of the autonomous vehicle,the model of the autonomous vehicle, the color of the vehicle, thelicense plate number of the autonomous vehicle, the vehicleidentification number (VIN) for the vehicle, or a combination thereof,to determine if the autonomous vehicle 150 is authorized to pass throughthe gate 106. For example, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can obtain camera data representingone or more of the aforementioned characteristics (e.g., make, model,color, license plate number, vehicle identification number, or the like)and compare the aforementioned characteristics to data stored inrespective records that each represent vehicles that are authorized topass through the gate 106.

If the autonomous vehicle 150 is determined to be unauthorized to passthrough the gate 106, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can perform one or more operations.For example, monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can determine to (i) not open the gate 106, (ii)transmit a notification indicative of an alarm event, (iii) trigger anaudible alarm, or a combination thereof. Alternatively, if themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) determines that the autonomous vehicle 150 is an authorizedautonomous vehicle 150, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can perform further securityscreening of the autonomous vehicle 150. Alternatively, in someimplementations, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can instruct the gate 106 to open, withoutfurther security screening of the autonomous vehicle 150 based ondetermining that the autonomous vehicle 150 is authorized.

In some implementations, performing further security screening of theautonomous vehicle 150 may include determining whether the autonomousvehicle 150 includes an authorized occupant. The monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) can determinewhether the autonomous vehicle 150 includes an authorized occupant basedon camera data 132, human occupancy data 152 broadcast by the autonomousvehicle 150, or a combination thereof. For example, the monitoringsystem control unit 190 (or monitoring application server or one or morecameras 130 a, 130 b) may perform facial recognition analysis on imagesof the vehicle occupant and determine whether the vehicle occupant'sface matches one or more image models representing the face ofauthorized humans such as property residents. By way of another example,the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may analyze human occupancy data from the autonomous vehicle 150and determine whether the human occupancy data is indicative of anauthorized human occupant. For example, the human occupancy datarepresents a human fingerprint of an authorized human occupant thatincludes weight, skin temperature, fingerprints, voiceprints, breathingrate, heart rate, other biometric features, or a combination thereofthat can be compared against fingerprints of authorized human occupants.Though authorized human occupants may include a property resident, thepresent disclosure need not be so limited. For example, an authorizedhuman occupant may include, for example, a dog walker, a house cleaner,a neighbor, a friend, or any other person that a resident of theproperty has authorized to access the property by storing data an imagemodel, human fingerprint, or the like representing the human occupant inone or more components of the monitoring system and designating thestored data as an authorized occupant profile.

The monitoring system control unit 110(or monitoring application server190) may disaggregate (i) sensor data obtained from the one or moresensors 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 c and (ii) camera data from the one ormore cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d based on the human occupancy ofthe autonomous vehicle 150. With reference to the example of FIG. 4A,the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may determine based on the camera data 132, human occupancy data152, or both, that the autonomous vehicle 150 does not include a humanoccupant. In response to the request to open the gate 106, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may begin to disregard sensor data from a subset of the sensors 120a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d in the garage so that the autonomous vehicle 150can enter the garage 105, begin capturing and analyzing (in real-time ornear real-time) camera data captured by the one or more cameras 130 a,130 b with a line of sight of the gate 106 opening, and begin to openthe garage door. The motion sensors 120 a and the contact sensor 120 bare depicted with an message and arrow in a circle with a line throughit because, though the sensors 120 a, 120 b may be generating andbroadcasting sensor data indicating, for example, that there is movementin the garage 105 and the contact sensor between the gate 106 and asurface of the garage 105 has been severed, the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) will disregardthe sensor data from sensors 120 a, 120 b so that the autonomous vehicle150 can enter into the garage 105 without triggering a false alarm.However, this scenario would create an opportunity for the trespasser103 to enter into the opening created by the opened gate 106. As aresult, with the motion sensor 120 a and contact sensor 120 b disabled,the trespasser to 103 can piggyback behind the autonomous vehicle 150and enter the garage 105.

However, one or more of the cameras such as camera 130 a may capturecamera data such as video, image, or both that is streamed to themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) for analysis. The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can perform video (or image) analytics on thestreamed camera data to determine whether the camera data 132 depictsthe presence of an object (e.g., a human person such as trespasser 103,an animal, or the like) in the camera data. With reference to theexample of FIG. 4A, the monitoring system control unit (or monitoringapplication server 190) can determine that the camera data depicts ahuman person (e.g., trespasser 103).

In some implementations, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) may broadcast data indicative of apotential alarm event based on the detection of a human person enteringinto the garage 105. Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) mayperform facial recognition analysis of one or more video, images, orboth, in the camera data showing the face of a human person (e.g., atrespasser 103) and determine that the human person is not a legitimateoccupant of the property 101. The monitoring system control unit (ormonitoring application server 190) may generate data indicative of apotential alarm event at the property 101 based on detection of thetrespasser 103 attempting to sneak into the garage 105. A notification134 may be transmitted to the monitoring application server 190, thecentral alarm station server 192, or both, based on the generated datathat is indicative of an event, the detected trespasser, or both. Thecentral alarm station server 192 may alert local authorities and requestthat local authorities deploy to the garage 105 of property 101.Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoring system control unit 110(or monitoring application server 190) may perform other operations inresponse to the detection of a potential trespasser such as trespasser103 as described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 4B is a contextual diagram of a system 100 for gate 106 monitoringduring arrival of an autonomous vehicle 150 at a gate 106 when a humanperson is present inside the autonomous vehicle 150.

The system shown in FIGS. 4B is the same as system 100 described withreference to FIG. 1. However, only a portion of the system 100 isdepicted in FIG. 4B to describe specific functionality of the system100.

FIG. 4B is an example of a garage 105 whose gate 106 (e.g., garage door)is monitored by a monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) during an autonomous vehicle's 150 return to thegarage 105 from a different location (e.g., after an autonomous vehicle150 has picked up a human occupant at school and returned home to garage105). The garage 105 shown in FIG. 4B is the same garage as shown inFIGS. 2A, 3A, and 4A. However, FIG. 4B describes the operation of thesystem 100 in a different context than the system 100 in FIGS. 2B to 2D,3B to 3D, and 4A.

As the autonomous vehicle 150 approaches the garage 105, the monitoringsystem control unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) maydetect vehicle 150 based on data generated by one or more monitoringsystem components. For example, the monitoring system control unit 110(or monitoring application server 190) may detect, based on sensor datafrom one or more sensors (e.g., motion sensors in a driveway), analysisof camera data (e.g., video, images, or both) from one or more cameras130 a, 130 b, or a combination thereof, that a vehicle 150 isapproaching the gate 106.

Based on detecting the vehicle 150, the one or more cameras 130 a, 130 bmay capture camera data 132 (e.g., video, images, or both) of theautonomous vehicle 150, and broadcast the captured camera data 132 viathe network 140. The monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) detect the broadcasted camera data 132 anddetermine, based on the camera data 132, whether the autonomous vehicle150 is an authorized autonomous vehicle 150 before opening the gate 106.For example, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can analyze the make of the autonomous vehicle,the model of the autonomous vehicle, the color of the vehicle, thelicense plate number of the autonomous vehicle, the vehicleidentification number (VIN) for the vehicle, or a combination thereof,to determine if the autonomous vehicle 150 is authorized to pass throughthe gate 106. For example, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can obtain camera data representingone or more of the aforementioned characteristics (e.g., make, model,color, license plate number, vehicle identification number, or the like)and compare the aforementioned characteristics to data stored inrespective records that each represent vehicles that are authorized topass through the gate 106.

If the autonomous vehicle 150 is determined to be unauthorized to passthrough the gate 106, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can perform one or more operations.For example, monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can determine to (i) not open the gate 106, (ii)transmit a notification indicative of an alarm event, (iii) trigger anaudible alarm, or a combination thereof. Alternatively, if themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) determines that the autonomous vehicle 150 is an authorizedautonomous vehicle 150, the monitoring system control unit 110 (ormonitoring application server 190) can perform further securityscreening of the autonomous vehicle 150. Alternatively, in someimplementations, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) can instruct the gate 106 to open, withoutfurther security screening of the autonomous vehicle 150 based ondetermining that the autonomous vehicle 150 is authorized.

In some implementations, performing further security screening of theautonomous vehicle 150 may include determining whether the autonomousvehicle 150 includes an authorized occupant. The monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) can determinewhether the autonomous vehicle 150 includes an authorized occupant basedon camera data 132, human occupancy data 152 broadcast by the autonomousvehicle 150, or a combination thereof. The monitoring system controlunit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) may disaggregate (i)sensor data obtained from the one or more sensors 120 a, 120 b, 120 c,120 c and (ii) camera data from the one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b,130 c, 130 d based on the human occupancy of the autonomous vehicle 150.With reference to the example of FIG. 4B, the monitoring system controlunit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) may determine based onthe camera data 132, human occupancy data 152, or both, that theautonomous vehicle 150 includes a human occupant 102.

In response to the request to open the gate 106, the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) may determinethat autonomous vehicle 150 has a human occupant and that the autonomousvehicle 150 has broadcasted a request to open the gate 106 so that theautonomous vehicle can enter the garage 105. In response to the requestto open the gate 106 and after determining that the autonomous vehicle150 and the human occupant 102 of the autonomous vehicle 150 areauthorized, the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) may begin to disregard sensor data from each ofthe sensors 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d in the garage so that theautonomous vehicle 150 can leave the garage 105 and disregard cameradata captured by the one or more cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d. Themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) disregards sensor data from each of the sensors 120 a, 120 b, 120c, 120 d and disregards camera data from each of the one or more cameras130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d because a human occupant 102 is present inthe autonomous vehicle 150. In FIG. 4B, the motion sensor 120 a, thecontact sensor 120 b, and the cameras 130 a, 130 b are depicted with amessage and arrow in a circle with a line through it because themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) will disregard sensor data from sensors 120 a, 120 b and cameradata from cameras 130 a, 130 b, 130 c, 130 d. In some implementations,the cameras 130 a, 130 b may be configured to not capture video of thegate 106 opening when a human person is present in the autonomousvehicle 150 (as opposed to capturing camera data that is disregarded).

With reference to 4B, the gate 106 may be sufficiently opened for theautonomous vehicle 150 to enter the garage 105. At this time, the motionsensor 120 a may be disabled to allow the autonomous vehicle 150 toleave the garage 105 without triggering a false alarm. This scenariowould create an opportunity for the trespasser 103 to enter into theopening created by the opened gate 106 and allow the trespasser to 103to enter the garage 105. However, human occupant such as human person102 can see the trespasser 103, and use a user device to transmit aninstruction to the monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoringapplication server 190) to generate data indicative of a potential alarmevent at the property 101 based on the trespasser 103 attempting tosneak into the garage 105. A notification may be transmitted to thecentral alarm station server 192 based on the generated event, thedetected trespasser, or both. The central alarm station server 192 mayalert local authorities and request that local authorities deploy to thegarage 105 of property 101. Alternatively, or in addition, themonitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) may perform other operations in response to the detection of apotential trespasser such as trespasser 103 as described with referenceto FIGS. 2 and 3.

The aforementioned description of FIGS. 4B describes a scenario whereinthe monitoring system control unit 110 (or monitoring application server190) determines to not use the gate 105 surveillance techniquesdescribed with reference to FIG. 4A because a human person is presentthe autonomous vehicle 150. However, the present disclosure need not beso limited. For example, in some implementations, the monitoring systemcontrol unit 110 (or monitoring application server 190) can use the samedisaggregation techniques to monitor a gate 106 opening when a humanoccupant is present in the vehicle as when there is no human occupant ofthe autonomous vehicle 150 as described with reference to FIG. 4A.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a process 500 for monitoring a gate duringarrival or departure of an autonomous vehicle. Generally, the process500 may include obtaining data a from one or more monitoring systemcomponents (510), determining occupancy of a vehicle based on theobtained data (520), detecting the presence of an object at a vehiclegate (530), and determining, based on the occupancy of the vehicle,whether to perform one or more security operations based on thedetection of object at the vehicle gate (540). In response todetermining that (i) there is no human occupant in the vehicle and (ii)an object was detected at the vehicle gate, the process 500 continues byperforming one or more security operations based on the detection of theobject at the vehicle gate (550). In response to determining that thereis an unauthorized human occupant in the vehicle, the process 500continues by performing one or more security operations based on thedetection of the human person at the vehicle gate (550). In response todetermining that there is an authorized human occupant in the vehicle,the process 500 continues by not performing one or more securityoperations based on the detection of the object at the vehicle gate(560). For convenience, the process 500 will be described as beingperformed by a monitoring unit such as a monitoring system control unit110 or monitoring application server 190 described with reference toFIGS. 1, 2A-2D, 3A-3D, 4A, and 4B.

In more detail, a monitoring unit can obtain 510 data from one or moremonitoring system components. For example, the monitoring unit maydetect sensor data broadcast by one or more sensors installed in (oraround) a garage, in (or around) a property associated with the garage,or a combination thereof. For example, the monitoring unit may detectsensor data broadcast by one or more motion sensors, one or moretemperature sensors, or both.

Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoring unit may detect cameradata broadcast one or more cameras in (or around) the garage. Forexample, the monitoring unit may detect video, images, or both. Thevideo, images, or both may include high-resolution (e.g., higher than720p) video, images, or both, standard-definition (e.g., lower than720p) video, images, or both, thermal video, images, or both, from asolar camera. In some implementations, the received camera data need notinclude an image, video, or both. Instead, the camera data may includedata representing a determination by a camera as to whether an image,video, or both, generated by the camera depicts an object such as ahuman object in a vehicle. For example, the camera data received, by themonitoring unit and from the camera may represent whether the cameradetermined that (i) a vehicle includes a human object, (ii) a vehicleincludes an authorized human object, (iii) a vehicle includes a humanobject that is not authorized, (iv) a vehicle does not include a humanobject, or the like.

Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoring unit may detect humanoccupancy data broadcast by a vehicle. Human occupancy data may includea data generated by a computing system of the vehicle that represents adetermination, by the computing system of the vehicle, that (i) thevehicle includes a human object, (ii) the vehicle includes an authorizedhuman object, (iii) the vehicle includes a human object that is notauthorized, (iv) the vehicle does not include a human object, or thelike. The computing system of vehicle may make such determinations basedon sensor data generated by one or more vehicle sensors, camera datagenerated by one or more vehicle cameras, or a combination thereof. Insome implementations, the human occupancy data may representdeterminations on human occupancy made by the computing system of thevehicle. In other implementations, human occupancy data may includesensor data or camera data is provided to the monitoring unit foranalysis to determine whether the sensor data or camera data generatedby one or more vehicle cameras, one or more vehicle sensors, or both,indicates that (i) the vehicle includes a human object, (ii) the vehicleincludes an authorized human object, (iii) the vehicle includes a humanobject that is not authorized, (iv) the vehicle does not include a humanobject, or the like. The vehicle may include an autonomous vehicle, aconnected vehicle, or both.

The monitoring unit can determine 520 occupancy of a vehicle based onthe obtained data. Determining the occupancy of the vehicle may include,for example, determining whether there is one or more human personsinside the vehicle. In some implementations, for example the monitoringunit may determine whether there is one or more human persons inside thevehicle based on analysis of (i) movement near a vehicle (e.g., within apredetermined amount of time of the vehicle starting its engines), (ii)temperature changes in the garage (e.g., within a predetermined amountof time of the vehicle starting its engines), (iii) objects in cameradata (e.g., videos, images, or both) in a vehicle (e.g., after thevehicle has started its engines) or around the vehicle (e.g., within apredetermined amount of time of the vehicle starting its engines, (iv)camera data representing a determination by a camera regarding humanoccupancy of the vehicle, (iv) human occupancy data sensor datagenerated one or more vehicle sensors, one or more vehicle cameras, orboth, or (vi) human occupancy data representing a determination by thevehicle as to whether the vehicle includes a human person. In someinstances, the monitoring unit may determine that the vehicle does notinclude a human occupant and then perform the process described at stage530. In other instances, the monitoring unit may determine that thevehicle does not include a human occupant.

The monitoring unit can detect 530 the presence of an object at avehicle gate. The object may be any object such as a human person, ananimal, or an inanimate object. For example, the monitoring unit candetect the presence of a human person at a vehicle gate by analyzingcamera data captured by one or more cameras configured to monitoring anopening in the vehicle gate after the gate starts to open so that thevehicle can pass through the vehicle gate. Analyzing the camera data mayinclude, for example, performing video analytics to determine whetherone or more objects (e.g., human persons, animals, or the like) aredepicted by the camera data.

The monitoring unit can determine 540 based on the occupancy of thevehicle, whether to perform one or more security operations based on thedetection of the object at the vehicle gate.

In response to determining that (i) there is no human occupant in thevehicle and (ii) an object was detected at the vehicle gate, themonitoring unit can perform 550 one or more security operations based onthe detection of the object at the vehicle gate. The one or moresecurity operations may include, for example, transmitting anotification indicative of an alarm event to alert a monitoring stationthat an object was detected at the vehicle gate. Alternatively, or inaddition, the one or more security operations may include transmitting anotification indicative of an alarm event to a user device of a user toalert the user that an object was detected at the vehicle gate.Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more security operations mayinclude transmitting a notification to one or more law enforcementagencies to notify the law enforcement agency that an object wasdetected at the vehicle gate. Any of the aforementioned notificationsmay trigger the dispatch of law enforcement authorities to the propertywhere the object was detected. Alternatively, or in addition, the one ormore security operations may include triggering an audible alarm.Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more security operations mayinclude dispatching a drone device to capture images or videos of thedetected object. Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more securityoperations may include dispatching a drone device to lock onto andfollow the detected object. In some implementations, when the monitoringunit determines that the detected object is a human person, the securityoperations may include performing facial recognition analysis on imagescaptured of the face of an object such as a human person detected at thevehicle gate, or a combination thereof.

In response to determining that there is an unauthorized human occupantin the vehicle, the monitoring unit can perform 550 one or more securityoperations based on the detection of the human person at the vehiclegate. The one or more security operations may include, for example,transmitting a notification indicative of an alarm event to alert amonitoring station that an object was detected at the vehicle gate.Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more security operations mayinclude transmitting a notification indicative of an alarm event to auser device of a user to alert the user that an object was detected atthe vehicle gate. Alternatively, or in addition, the one or moresecurity operations may include transmitting a notification to one ormore law enforcement agencies to notify the law enforcement agency thatan object was detected at the vehicle gate. Any of the aforementionednotifications may trigger the dispatch of law enforcement authorities tothe property where the object was detected. Alternatively, or inaddition, the one or more security operations may include triggering anaudible alarm. Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more securityoperations may include dispatching a drone device to capture images orvideos of the detected object. Alternatively, or in addition, the one ormore security operations may include dispatching a drone device to lockonto and follow the detected object. In some implementations, when themonitoring unit determines that the detected object is a human person,the security operations may include performing facial recognitionanalysis on images captured of the face of an object such as a humanperson detected at the vehicle gate, or a combination thereof.

In response to determining that there is an authorized human occupant,the monitoring unit will not perform 560 one or more security operationsbased on the detection of a human person at the vehicle gate. Notperforming one or more security operations may include, for example,disregarding data indicative of the detection of human person at thevehicle gate. For example, the monitoring unit may ignore sensor data,camera data, or both that are generated by the sensors in (or around)the garage, cameras in (or around) the garage, or both, when anauthorized human user is determined to be occupying the vehicle.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another process 600 for determining whether agate opening should be monitored during departure of an autonomousvehicle. Generally, the process 600 may include obtaining data from oneor more monitoring system components (610), determining occupancy of avehicle based on the obtained data (620), and determining, based onvehicle occupancy data, whether a gate opening should be monitored(630). In response to determining that the vehicle is occupied by anauthorized human occupant, the process 600 continues at stage 640 by notmonitoring the gate opening. In response to determining that the vehicleis occupied by an unauthorized human occupant, the process 600 continuesat stage 650 by performing one or more security operations (650). Inresponse to determining that the vehicle is not occupied by any humanoccupant, the process 600 continues at stage 650 by monitoring the gateopening. For convenience, the process 600 will be described as beingperformed by a monitoring unit such as a monitoring system control unit110 or monitoring application server 190 described with reference toFIGS. 1, 2A-2D, 3A-3D, 4A, and 4B.

In more detail, a monitoring unit can obtain 610 data from one or moremonitoring system components. For example, the monitoring unit maydetect sensor data broadcast by one or more sensors installed in (oraround) a garage, in (or around) a property associated with the garage,or a combination thereof. For example, the monitoring unit may detectsensor data broadcast by one or more motion sensors, one or moretemperature sensors, or both.

Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoring unit may detect cameradata broadcast one or more cameras in (or around) the garage. Forexample, the monitoring unit may detect video, images, or both. Thevideo, images, or both may include high-resolution (e.g., higher than720p) video, images, or both, standard-definition (e.g., lower than720p) video, images, or both, thermal video, images, or both, from asolar camera. In some implementations, the received camera data need notinclude an image, video, or both. Instead, the camera data may includedata representing a determination by a camera as to whether an image,video, or both, generated by the camera depicts an object such as ahuman object in a vehicle. For example, the camera data received, by themonitoring unit and from the camera may represent whether the cameradetermined that (i) a vehicle includes a human object, (ii) a vehicleincludes an authorized human object, (iii) a vehicle includes a humanobject that is not authorized, (iv) a vehicle does not include a humanobject, or the like.

Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoring unit may detect humanoccupancy data broadcast by a vehicle. Human occupancy data may includea data generated by a computing system of the vehicle that represents adetermination, by the computing system of the vehicle, that (i) thevehicle includes a human object, (ii) the vehicle includes an authorizedhuman object, (iii) the vehicle includes a human object that is notauthorized, (iv) the vehicle does not include a human object, or thelike. The computing system of vehicle may make such determinations basedon sensor data generated by one or more vehicle sensors, camera datagenerated by one or more vehicle cameras, or a combination thereof. Insome implementations, the human occupancy data may representdeterminations on human occupancy made by the computing system of thevehicle. In other implementations, human occupancy data may includesensor data or camera data is provided to the monitoring unit foranalysis to determine whether the sensor data or camera data generatedby one or more vehicle cameras, one or more vehicle sensors, or both,indicates that (i) the vehicle includes a human object, (ii) the vehicleincludes an authorized human object, (iii) the vehicle includes a humanobject that is not authorized, (iv) the vehicle does not include a humanobject, or the like. The vehicle may include an autonomous vehicle, aconnected vehicle, or both.

The monitoring unit can determine 620 occupancy of a vehicle based onthe obtained data. Determining the occupancy of the vehicle may include,for example, determining whether there is one or more human personsinside the vehicle. In some implementations, for example the monitoringunit may determine whether there is one or more human persons inside thevehicle based on analysis of (i) movement near a vehicle (e.g., within apredetermined amount of time of the vehicle starting its engines), (ii)temperature changes in the garage (e.g., within a predetermined amountof time of the vehicle starting its engines), (iii) objects in cameradata (e.g., videos, images, or both) in a vehicle (e.g., after thevehicle has started its engines) or around the vehicle (e.g., within apredetermined amount of time of the vehicle starting its engines, (iv)camera data representing a determination by a camera regarding humanoccupancy of the vehicle, (iv) human occupancy data sensor datagenerated one or more vehicle sensors, one or more vehicle cameras, orboth, or (vi) human occupancy data representing a determination by thevehicle as to whether the vehicle includes a human person.

In some implementations, the monitoring unit may determine the occupancyof a vehicle in response to the detection of the vehicle moving within apredetermine vicinity of the gate opening. For example, the monitoringunit may determine that a vehicle is moving towards the gate opening,and responsive to the detection of the vehicle moving towards the gateopening, the monitoring unit can determine whether the vehicle includesan occupant. In yet other implementations, the monitoring may determineoccupancy of a vehicle in response to a determination by the monitoringunit that the vehicle has been started (e.g., the engine of the vehiclehas turned on). The vehicle may be connected to the monitoring unit viaone or more networks and use the network to communicate changes in thevehicle status such as engine on, engine off, vehicle moving, vehiclestopped, etc. when the vehicle is within a predetermined vicinity of theproperty monitored by the monitoring unit.

The monitoring unit can determine 630, based on the vehicle occupancydata whether a gate opening should be monitored.

In response to determining that the vehicle is occupied by an authorizedhuman occupant, the monitoring unit does not 640 monitor the gateopening. Not monitoring the gate opening may include, for example,disregarding data indicative of the detection of human person (or otherobject) at the vehicle gate. For example, the monitoring unit may ignoresensor data, camera data, or both that are generated by the sensors in(or around) the garage, cameras in (or around) the garage, or both, whenan authorized human user is determined to be occupying the vehicle.

In response to determining that the vehicle is occupied by anunauthorized human occupant, the monitoring unit performs 650 one ormore security operations. The one or more security operations mayinclude, for example, transmitting a notification indicative of an alarmevent to alert a monitoring station that an authorized human occupant isoccupying the vehicle. Alternatively, or in addition, the one or moresecurity operations may include triggering an audible alarm.Alternatively, or in addition, the security operations may includeperforming facial recognition analysis on images captured of the face ofthe unauthorized occupant of the vehicle. Alternatively, or in addition,the one or more security operations may include transmitting aninstruction to the vehicle that disables the vehicle.

In response to determining that the vehicle is not occupied by any humanoccupant, the monitoring unit can monitor 650 the gate opening.Monitoring the gate opening may include, for example, disregardingsensor data from only a subset of a plurality of sensors in a garage.For example, the monitoring unit can disregard sensor data from one ormore motion sensors, one or more contact sensors, or the like in orderto allow the vehicle to exit the garage. Alternatively, or in addition,monitoring the gate opening can include, for example, capturing cameradata (e.g., video, images, or the like) of a gate opening that iscreated when the gate opens to allow the vehicle to leave.Alternatively, or in addition, monitoring the gate opening may includeanalyzing the camera data to determine whether the camera data depictsone or more objects. For example, the camera data can be analyzed todetermine whether any human persons, animals, or other objects have beendetected in the vicinity of the gate opening. An object may bedetermined to be in the vicinity of the gate opening if, for example,the object approached the gate opening, entered into a garage (or otherportion of a property) via the gate opening, was within a predetermineddistance of the gate opening, or the like. In response to determiningthat an object was detected in the vicinity of the gate opening, themonitoring unit may perform one or more security operations.

The one or more security operations may include, for example,transmitting a notification indicative of an alarm event to alert amonitoring station that an object was detected in the vicinity of thegate opening. Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more securityoperations may include triggering an audible alarm. In someimplementations, when the monitoring unit determines that the detectedobject is a human person, the security operations may include performingfacial recognition analysis on images captured of the face of an objectsuch as a human person detected at the vehicle gate, or a combinationthereof.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another process 700 for monitoring a gateduring arrival of an autonomous vehicle. Generally, the process 700 mayinclude obtaining data from one or more monitoring system components(710) and determining whether the vehicle is an authorized vehicle(720). In response to determining that the vehicle is not an authorizedvehicle, the process 700 continues by performing one or more securityoperations based on detecting the unauthorized vehicle (722). Inresponse to determining that the vehicle is an authorized vehicle, theprocess 700 continues by determining whether the vehicle includes anauthorized human occupant (730). In response to determining that thevehicle includes an authorized occupant, the process 700 continues bynot monitoring a gate opening (732). In response to determining that thevehicle includes an unauthorized occupant, the process 700 continues byperforming one or more security operations (734). In response todetermining that the vehicle does not include a human occupant, theprocess 700 continues by monitoring the gate opening (736). Forconvenience, the process 700 will be described as being performed by amonitoring unit such as a monitoring system control unit 110 ormonitoring application server 190 described with reference to FIGS. 1,2A-2D, 3A-3D, 4A, and 4B.

In more detail, a monitoring unit can obtain 710 data from one or moremonitoring system components. For example, the monitoring unit maydetect sensor data broadcast by one or more sensors installed in (oraround) a garage, in (or around) a property associated with the garage,or a combination thereof. For example, the monitoring unit may detectsensor data broadcast by one or more motion sensors, one or moretemperature sensors, or both.

Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoring unit may detect cameradata broadcast one or more cameras in (or around) the garage. Forexample, the monitoring unit may detect video, images, or both. Thevideo, images, or both may include high-resolution (e.g., higher than720p) video, images, or both, standard-definition (e.g., lower than720p) video, images, or both, thermal video, images, or both, from asolar camera. In some implementations, the received camera data need notinclude an image, video, or both. Instead, the camera data may includedata representing a determination by a camera as to whether an image,video, or both, generated by the camera depicts an object such as ahuman object in a vehicle. For example, the camera data received, by themonitoring unit and from the camera may represent whether the cameradetermined that (i) a vehicle includes a human object, (ii) a vehicleincludes an authorized human object, (iii) a vehicle includes a humanobject that is not authorized, (iv) a vehicle does not include a humanobject, or the like.

Alternatively, or in addition, the monitoring unit may detect humanoccupancy data broadcast by a vehicle. Human occupancy data may includea data generated by a computing system of the vehicle that represents adetermination, by the computing system of the vehicle, that (i) thevehicle includes a human object, (ii) the vehicle includes an authorizedhuman object, (iii) the vehicle includes a human object that is notauthorized, (iv) the vehicle does not include a human object, or thelike. The computing system of vehicle may make such determinations basedon sensor data generated by one or more vehicle sensors, camera datagenerated by one or more vehicle cameras, or a combination thereof. Insome implementations, the human occupancy data may representdeterminations on human occupancy made by the computing system of thevehicle. In other implementations, human occupancy data may includesensor data or camera data is provided to the monitoring unit foranalysis to determine whether the sensor data or camera data generatedby one or more vehicle cameras, one or more vehicle sensors, or both,indicates that (i) the vehicle includes a human object, (ii) the vehicleincludes an authorized human object, (iii) the vehicle includes a humanobject that is not authorized, (iv) the vehicle does not include a humanobject, or the like. The vehicle may include an autonomous vehicle, aconnected vehicle, or both.

The monitoring system may can determine 720 whether the vehicle is anauthorized vehicle. For example, the monitoring unit can analyze themake of the vehicle, the model of the vehicle, the color of the vehicle,the license plate number of the autonomous vehicle, the vehicleidentification number (VIN) for the vehicle, or a combination thereof,to determine if the vehicle is authorized to pass through the gate. Forexample, the monitoring unit can obtain camera data representing one ormore of the aforementioned characteristics (e.g., make, model, color,license plate number, vehicle identification number, or the like) andcompare the aforementioned characteristics to data stored in respectiverecords that each represent vehicles that are authorized to pass throughthe gate.

In response to determining that the vehicle is not an authorizedvehicle, monitoring unit performs 722 one or more security operationsbased on detecting the unauthorized vehicle. The one or more securityoperations may include, for example, transmitting a notificationindicative of an alarm event to alert a monitoring station that anauthorized human unauthorized vehicle is attempting to pass through agate. Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more security operationsmay include triggering an audible alarm.

In response to determining that the vehicle is an authorized vehicle,the monitoring unit determines 730 whether the vehicle includes anauthorized human occupant. The monitoring unit can determine whether thevehicle includes an authorized occupant based on camera data (e.g.,video, images, or both) captured by one or more cameras in the vicinityof the gate, human occupancy data broadcast by the vehicle (e.g., imagesfrom cameras inside the vehicle, audio recordings obtained frommicrophones inside the vehicle, user interaction with the vehicle (e.g.,type of data a user inputs into the vehicle such as a security code,home address, personal identification number, password, or the like)),or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the monitoring unitcan perform facial recognition analysis of images of a vehicleoccupant's face, voiceprint analysis of the vehicle occupant's voice,evaluate other input provided by the vehicle occupant to the vehicle, ora combination thereof. The monitoring unit can then determine, based onthe facial recognition analysis, voiceprint analysis, evaluation ofother input, or a combination thereof, whether the vehicle occupant isan authorized human occupant.

In response to determining that the vehicle includes an authorizedoccupant, the monitoring unit does not monitor 732 a gate opening. Notmonitoring the gate opening may include, for example, disregarding dataindicative of the detection of human person (or other object) at thevehicle gate. For example, the monitoring unit may ignore sensor data,camera data, or both that are generated by the sensors in (or around)the garage, cameras in (or around) the garage, or both, when anauthorized human user is determined to be occupying the vehicle.

In response to determining that the vehicle includes an unauthorizedoccupant, the monitoring unit performs 734 one or more securityoperations. The one or more security operations may include, forexample, transmitting a notification indicative of an alarm event toalert a monitoring station that an authorized human occupant isoccupying the vehicle. Alternatively, or in addition, the one or moresecurity operations may include triggering an audible alarm.Alternatively, or in addition, the security operations may includeperforming facial recognition analysis on images captured of the face ofthe unauthorized occupant of the vehicle. Alternatively, or in addition,the one or more security operations may include transmitting aninstruction to the vehicle that disables the vehicle.

In response to determining that the vehicle does not include a humanoccupant, the monitoring unit monitors 736 the gate opening. Monitoringthe gate opening may include, for example, disregarding sensor data fromonly a subset of a plurality of sensors in (or around) a garage. Forexample, the monitoring unit can disregard sensor data from one or moremotion sensors, one or more contact sensors, or the like in order toallow the vehicle to enter the garage. Alternatively, or in addition,monitoring the gate opening can include, for example, capturing cameradata (e.g., video, images, or the like) of a gate opening that iscreated when the gate opens to allow the vehicle to enter.Alternatively, or in addition, monitoring the gate opening may includeanalyzing the camera data to determine whether the camera data depictsone or more objects. For example, the camera data can be analyzed todetermine whether any human persons, animals, or other objects have beendetected in the vicinity of the gate opening. An object may bedetermined to be in the vicinity of the gate opening if, for example,the object approached the gate opening, entered into a garage (or otherportion of a property) via the gate opening, was within a predetermineddistance of the gate opening, or the like. In response to determiningthat an object was detected in the vicinity of the gate opening, themonitoring unit may perform one or more security operations.

The one or more security operations may include, for example,transmitting a notification indicative of an alarm event to alert amonitoring station that an object was detected in the vicinity of thegate opening. Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more securityoperations may include triggering an audible alarm. In someimplementations, when the monitoring unit determines that the detectedobject is a human person, the security operations may include performingfacial recognition analysis on images captured of the face of an objectsuch as a human person detected at the vehicle gate, or a combinationthereof.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of system components that can be used tomonitor a gate during arrival or departure of an autonomous vehicle.

The electronic system 800 includes a network 805, a monitoring systemcontrol unit 810, one or more user devices 840, 850, a monitoringapplication server 890, and a central alarm station server 892. In someexamples, the network 805 facilitates communications between themonitoring system control unit 810, the one or more user devices 840,850, the monitoring application server 890, and the central alarmstation server 892.

The network 805 is configured to enable exchange of electroniccommunications between devices connected to the network 805. Forexample, the network 805 may be configured to enable exchange ofelectronic communications between the monitoring system control unit810, the one or more user devices 840, 850, the monitoring applicationserver 890, and the central alarm station server 892. The network 805may include, for example, one or more of the Internet, Wide AreaNetworks (WANs), Local Area Networks (LANs), analog or digital wired andwireless telephone networks (e.g., a public switched telephone network(PSTN), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), a cellular network,and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), radio, television, cable, satellite,or any other delivery or tunneling mechanism for carrying data. Network805 may include multiple networks or subnetworks, each of which mayinclude, for example, a wired or wireless data pathway. The network 805may include a circuit-switched network, a packet-switched data network,or any other network able to carry electronic communications (e.g., dataor voice communications). For example, the network 805 may includenetworks based on the Internet protocol (IP), asynchronous transfer mode(ATM), the PSTN, packet-switched networks based on IP, X.25, or FrameRelay, or other comparable technologies and may support voice using, forexample, VoIP, or other comparable protocols used for voicecommunications. The network 805 may include one or more networks thatinclude wireless data channels and wireless voice channels. The network805 may be a wireless network, a broadband network, or a combination ofnetworks including a wireless network and a broadband network.

The monitoring system control unit 810 includes a controller 812, anetwork module 814, and storage unit 816. The controller 812 isconfigured to control a monitoring system (e.g., a home alarm orsecurity system) that includes the monitoring system control unit 810.In some examples, the controller 812 may include a processor or othercontrol circuitry configured to execute instructions of a program thatcontrols operation of an alarm system. In these examples, the controller812 may be configured to receive input from sensors, detectors, or otherdevices included in the alarm system and control operations of devicesincluded in the alarm system or other household devices (e.g., athermostat, an appliance, lights, etc.). For example, the controller 812may be configured to control operation of the network module 814included in the monitoring system control unit 810.

The monitoring system control unit 810 may also include a gatemonitoring unit 818. The gate monitoring unit 818 may include softwarecode stored in a memory unit that, when executed by the processor (orother control circuitry) of the monitoring system control unit 810realizes programmed functionality that performs the operations describedwith reference to FIGS. 1, 2A-2D, 3A-3D, 4A, 4B, and 5-7. For example,the gate monitoring unit 818 may be configured determine the occupancyof a vehicle based on sensor data from sensors in or around a garage,camera data from cameras in or around a garage, human occupancy datafrom a vehicle, or a combination thereof. The gate monitoring unit 818can disaggregate the sensor data and camera data base on the occupancyof the vehicle. The gate monitoring unit 818 can also determine whethera vehicle is an authorized vehicle that can enter a garage, whether anoccupant of the vehicle is an authorized occupant, or a combinationthereof. The gate monitoring unit 818 can monitor a gate opening byanalyzing camera data that is captured of a gate opening and analyzingthe camera data object such as human persons, animals, or other objects.The gate monitoring unit can perform operations in response to thedetection of an unauthorized vehicle, unauthorized occupant of avehicle, or both. For example, the gate monitoring unit 818 notify amonitoring application server 890, a central alarm station server 892,or both, of the detection of an authorized vehicle, unauthorized vehicleoccupant, or both.

In some implementations, the gate monitoring unit 818 may instead behosted by the monitoring application server 890 as a gate monitoringunit 890 a. In such instances, the monitoring application server 890 isconfigured to perform each of the operations described with reference toFIGS. 1, 2A-2D, 3A-3D, 4A, 4B, and 5-7 as being performed by themonitoring system control unit 810 or the monitoring application server890. In yet other implementations, the monitoring application server 890and the monitoring system control unit 810 may each host the gardeningunit 890 a, 818, respectively. In such instances, one or more of theoperations described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2A-2D, 3A-3D, 4A, 4B,and 5-7 may be performed by the monitoring application server 890 andone or more of the operations described with reference to FIGS. 1,2A-2D, 3A-3D, 4A, 4B, and 5-7 may be performed by the monitoring systemcontrol unit 810.

The network module 814 is a communication device configured to exchangecommunications over the network 805. The network module 814 may be awireless communication module configured to exchange wirelesscommunications over the network 805. For example, the network module 814may be a wireless communication device configured to exchangecommunications over a wireless data channel and a wireless voicechannel. In this example, the network module 814 may transmit alarm dataover a wireless data channel and establish a two-way voice communicationsession over a wireless voice channel. The wireless communication devicemay include one or more of a LTE module, a GSM module, a radio modem,cellular transmission module, or any type of module configured toexchange communications in one of the following formats: LTE, GSM orGPRS, CDMA, EDGE or EGPRS, EV-DO or EVDO, UMTS, or IP.

The network module 814 also may be a wired communication moduleconfigured to exchange communications over the network 805 using a wiredconnection. For instance, the network module 814 may be a modem, anetwork interface card, or another type of network interface device. Thenetwork module 814 may be an Ethernet network card configured to enablethe monitoring system control unit 810 to communicate over a local areanetwork and/or the Internet. The network module 814 also may be avoiceband modem configured to enable the alarm panel to communicate overthe telephone lines of Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS).

The monitoring system that includes the monitoring system control unit810 includes one or more sensors or detectors. For example, themonitoring system may include multiple sensors 820. The sensors 820 mayinclude a contact sensor, a motion sensor, a glass break sensor, or anyother type of sensor included in an alarm system or security system. Thesensors 820 also may include an environmental sensor, such as atemperature sensor, a water sensor, a rain sensor, a wind sensor, alight sensor, a smoke detector, a carbon monoxide detector, an airquality sensor, etc. The sensors 820 further may include a healthmonitoring sensor, such as a prescription bottle sensor that monitorstaking of prescriptions, a blood pressure sensor, a blood sugar sensor,a bed mat configured to sense presence of liquid (e.g., bodily fluids)on the bed mat, etc. In some examples, the sensors 820 may include aradio-frequency identification (RFID) sensor that identifies aparticular article that includes a pre-assigned RFID tag.

The monitoring system control unit 810 communicates with the module 822and the camera 830 to perform surveillance or monitoring. The module 822is connected to one or more devices that enable home automation control.For instance, the module 822 may be connected to one or more lightingsystems and may be configured to control operation of the one or morelighting systems. Also, the module 822 may be connected to one or moreelectronic locks at the property and may be configured to controloperation of the one or more electronic locks (e.g., control Z-Wavelocks using wireless communications in the Z-Wave protocol. Further, themodule 822 may be connected to one or more appliances at the propertyand may be configured to control operation of the one or moreappliances. The module 822 may include multiple modules that are eachspecific to the type of device being controlled in an automated manner.The module 822 may control the one or more devices based on commandsreceived from the monitoring system control unit 810. For instance, themodule 822 may cause a lighting system to illuminate an area to providea better image of the area when captured by a camera 830.

The camera 830 may be a video/photographic camera or other type ofoptical sensing device configured to capture images. For instance, thecamera 830 may be configured to capture images of an area within abuilding monitored by the monitoring system control unit 810. The camera830 may be configured to capture single, static images of the area andalso video images of the area in which multiple images of the area arecaptured at a relatively high frequency (e.g., thirty images persecond). The camera 830 may be controlled based on commands receivedfrom the monitoring system control unit 810.

The camera 830 may be triggered by several different types oftechniques. For instance, a Passive Infra Red (PIR) motion sensor may bebuilt into the camera 830 and used to trigger the camera 830 to captureone or more images when motion is detected. The camera 830 also mayinclude a microwave motion sensor built into the camera and used totrigger the camera 830 to capture one or more images when motion isdetected. The camera 830 may have a “normally open” or “normally closed”digital input that can trigger capture of one or more images whenexternal sensors (e.g., the sensors 820, PIR, door/window, etc.) detectmotion or other events. In some implementations, the camera 830 receivesa command to capture an image when external devices detect motion oranother potential alarm event. The camera 830 may receive the commandfrom the controller 812 or directly from one of the sensors 820.

In some examples, the camera 830 triggers integrated or externalilluminators (e.g., Infra Red, Z-wave controlled “white” lights, lightscontrolled by the module 822, etc.) to improve image quality when thescene is dark. An integrated or separate light sensor may be used todetermine if illumination is desired and may result in increased imagequality.

The camera 830 may be programmed with any combination of time/dayschedules, system “arming state”, or other variables to determinewhether images should be captured or not when triggers occur. The camera830 may enter a low-power mode when not capturing images. In this case,the camera 830 may wake periodically to check for inbound messages fromthe controller 812. The camera 830 may be powered by internal,replaceable batteries if located remotely from the monitoring controlunit 810. The camera 830 may employ a small solar cell to recharge thebattery when light is available. Alternatively, the camera 830 may bepowered by the controller's 812 power supply if the camera 830 isco-located with the controller 812.

In some implementations, the camera 830 communicates directly with themonitoring application server 890 over the Internet. In theseimplementations, image data captured by the camera 830 does not passthrough the monitoring system control unit 810 and the camera 830receives commands related to operation from the monitoring applicationserver 890.

The system 800 further includes one or more robotic devices 880 and 882.The robotic devices 880 and 882 may be any type of robots that arecapable of moving and taking actions that assist monitoring userbehavior patterns. For example, the robotic devices 880 and 882 mayinclude drones that are capable of moving throughout a property based onautomated control technology and/or user input control provided by auser. In this example, the drones may be able to fly, roll, walk, orotherwise move about the property. The drones may include helicoptertype devices (e.g., quad copters), rolling helicopter type devices(e.g., roller copter devices that can fly and also roll along theground, walls, or ceiling) and land vehicle type devices (e.g.,automated cars that drive around a property). In some cases, the roboticdevices 880 and 882 may be robotic devices that are intended for otherpurposes and merely associated with the monitoring system 800 for use inappropriate circumstances. For instance, a robotic vacuum cleaner devicemay be associated with the monitoring system 800 as one of the roboticdevices 880 and 882 and may be controlled to take action responsive tomonitoring system events.

In some examples, the robotic devices 880 and 882 automatically navigatewithin a property. In these examples, the robotic devices 880 and 882include sensors and control processors that guide movement of therobotic devices 880 and 882 within the property. For instance, therobotic devices 880 and 882 may navigate within the property using oneor more cameras, one or more proximity sensors, one or more gyroscopes,one or more accelerometers, one or more magnetometers, a globalpositioning system (GPS) unit, an altimeter, one or more sonar or lasersensors, and/or any other types of sensors that aid in navigation abouta space. The robotic devices 880 and 882 may include control processorsthat process output from the various sensors and control the roboticdevices 880 and 882 to move along a path that reaches the desireddestination and avoids obstacles. In this regard, the control processorsdetect walls or other obstacles in the property and guide movement ofthe robotic devices 880 and 882 in a manner that avoids the walls andother obstacles.

In addition, the robotic devices 880 and 882 may store data thatdescribes attributes of the property. For instance, the robotic devices880 and 882 may store a floorplan and/or a three-dimensional model ofthe property that enables the robotic devices 880 and 882 to navigatethe property. During initial configuration, the robotic devices 880 and882 may receive the data describing attributes of the property,determine a frame of reference to the data (e.g., a home or referencelocation in the property), and navigate the property based on the frameof reference and the data describing attributes of the property. Forexample, a robotic device 880 or 882 can navigate from a chargingstation 870 or 872 to a gate opening, and capture camera data (e.g.,video, images, audio, or the like). Further, initial configuration ofthe robotic devices 880 and 882 also may include learning of one or morenavigation patterns in which a user provides input to control therobotic devices 880 and 882 to perform a specific navigation action(e.g., fly to an upstairs bedroom and spin around while capturing videoand then return to a home charging base). In this regard, the roboticdevices 880 and 882 may learn and store the navigation patterns suchthat the robotic devices 880 and 882 may automatically repeat thespecific navigation actions upon a later request.

In some examples, the robotic devices 880 and 882 may include datacapture and recording devices. In these examples, the robotic devices880 and 882 may include one or more cameras, one or more motion sensors,one or more microphones, one or more biometric data collection tools,one or more temperature sensors, one or more humidity sensors, one ormore air flow sensors, and/or any other types of sensors that may beuseful in capturing monitoring data related to the property and users inthe property. The one or more biometric data collection tools may beconfigured to collect biometric samples of a person in the home with orwithout contact of the person. For instance, the biometric datacollection tools may include a fingerprint scanner, a hair samplecollection tool, a skin cell collection tool, and/or any other tool thatallows the robotic devices 880 and 882 to take and store a biometricsample that can be used to identify the person (e.g., a biometric samplewith DNA that can be used for DNA testing).

In some implementations, the robotic devices 880 and 882 may includeoutput devices. In these implementations, the robotic devices 880 and882 may include one or more displays, one or more speakers, one or moreprojectors, and/or any type of output devices that allow the roboticdevices 880 and 882 to communicate information to a nearby user. The oneor more projectors may include projectors that project a two-dimensionalimage onto a surface (e.g., wall, floor, or ceiling) and/or holographicprojectors that project three-dimensional holograms into a nearby space.

The robotic devices 880 and 882 also may include a communication modulethat enables the robotic devices 880 and 882 to communicate with themonitoring system control unit 810, each other, and/or other devices.The communication module may be a wireless communication module thatallows the robotic devices 880 and 882 to communicate wirelessly. Forinstance, the communication module may be a Wi-Fi module that enablesthe robotic devices 880 and 882 to communicate over a local wirelessnetwork at the property. The communication module further may be an 800MHz wireless communication module that enables the robotic devices 880and 882 to communicate directly with the monitoring system control unit810. Other types of short-range wireless communication protocols, suchas Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, Z-Wave, ZigBee, etc., may be used to allowthe robotic devices 880 and 882 to communicate with other devices in theproperty.

The robotic devices 880 and 882 further may include processor andstorage capabilities. The robotic devices 880 and 882 may include anysuitable processing devices that enable the robotic devices 880 and 882to operate applications and perform the actions described throughoutthis disclosure. In addition, the robotic devices 880 and 882 mayinclude solid state electronic storage that enables the robotic devices880 and 882 to store applications, configuration data, collected sensordata, and/or any other type of information available to the roboticdevices 880 and 882.

The robotic devices 880 and 882 are associated with one or more chargingstations 870 and 872. The charging stations 870 and 872 may be locatedat predefined home base or reference locations in the property. Therobotic devices 880 and 882 may be configured to navigate to thecharging stations 870 and 872 after completion of tasks needed to beperformed for the monitoring system 800. For instance, after completionof a monitoring operation or upon instruction by the monitoring systemcontrol unit 810, the robotic devices 880 and 882 may be configured toautomatically fly to and land on one of the charging stations 870 and872. In this regard, the robotic devices 880 and 882 may automaticallymaintain a fully charged battery in a state in which the robotic devices880 and 882 are ready for use by the monitoring system 800.

The charging stations 870 and 872 may be contact based charging stationsand/or wireless charging stations. For contact based charging stations,the robotic devices 880 and 882 may have readily accessible points ofcontact that the robotic devices 880 and 882 are capable of positioningand mating with a corresponding contact on the charging station. Forinstance, a helicopter type robotic device may have an electroniccontact on a portion of its landing gear that rests on and mates with anelectronic pad of a charging station when the helicopter type roboticdevice lands on the charging station. The electronic contact on therobotic device may include a cover that opens to expose the electroniccontact when the robotic device is charging and closes to cover andinsulate the electronic contact when the robotic device is in operation.

For wireless charging stations, the robotic devices 880 and 882 maycharge through a wireless exchange of power. In these cases, the roboticdevices 880 and 882 need only locate themselves closely enough to thewireless charging stations for the wireless exchange of power to occur.In this regard, the positioning needed to land at a predefined home baseor reference location in the property may be less precise than with acontact based charging station. Based on the robotic devices 880 and 882landing at a wireless charging station, the wireless charging stationoutputs a wireless signal that the robotic devices 880 and 882 receiveand convert to a power signal that charges a battery maintained on therobotic devices 880 and 882.

In some implementations, each of the robotic devices 880 and 882 has acorresponding and assigned charging station 870 and 872 such that thenumber of robotic devices 880 and 882 equals the number of chargingstations 870 and 872. In these implementations, the robotic devices 880and 882 always navigate to the specific charging station assigned tothat robotic device. For instance, the robotic device 880 may always usechanging station 870 and the robotic device 882 may always use changingstation 872.

In some examples, the robotic devices 880 and 882 may share chargingstations. For instance, the robotic devices 880 and 882 may use one ormore community charging stations that are capable of charging multiplerobotic devices 880 and 882. The community charging station may beconfigured to charge multiple robotic devices 880 and 882 in parallel.The community charging station may be configured to charge multiplerobotic devices 880 and 882 in serial such that the multiple roboticdevices 880 and 882 take turns charging and, when fully charged, returnto a predefined home base or reference location in the property that isnot associated with a charger. The number of community charging stationsmay be less than the number of robotic devices 880 and 882.

Also, the charging stations 870 and 872 may not be assigned to specificrobotic devices 880 and 882 and may be capable of charging any of therobotic devices 880 and 882. In this regard, the robotic devices 880 and882 may use any suitable, unoccupied charging station when not in use.For instance, when one of the robotic devices 880 and 882 has completedan operation or is in need of battery charge, the monitoring systemcontrol unit 810 references a stored table of the occupancy status ofeach charging station and instructs the robotic device to navigate tothe nearest charging station that is unoccupied.

The sensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830, and the robotic devices880 and 882 communicate with the controller 812 over communication links824, 826, 828, 832, 862, 884, 886. The communication links 824, 826,828, 832, 862, 884, and 886 may be a wired or wireless data pathwayconfigured to transmit signals from the sensors 820, the module 822, thecamera 830, the robotic devices 880 and 882, and the vehicle 860 to thecontroller 812. The sensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830, and therobotic devices 880 and 882 may continuously transmit sensed values tothe controller 812, periodically transmit sensed values to thecontroller 812, or transmit sensed values to the controller 812 inresponse to a change in a sensed value.

The communication links 824, 826, 828, 832, 862, 884, and 886 mayinclude a local network. The sensors 820, the module 822, the camera830, the robotic devices 880 and 882, the vehicle 860, and thecontroller 812 may exchange data and commands over the local network.The local network may include 802.11 “Wi-Fi” wireless Ethernet (e.g.,using low-power Wi-Fi______33 chipsets), Z-Wave, ZigBee, Bluetooth,“Homeplug” or other “Powerline” networks that operate over AC wiring,and a Category 5 (CAT5) or Category 6 (CAT6) wired Ethernet network. Thelocal network may be a mesh network constructed based on the devicesconnected to the mesh network.

The monitoring application server 890 is an electronic device configuredto provide monitoring services by exchanging electronic communicationswith the monitoring system control unit 810, the one or more userdevices 840, 850, and the central alarm station server 892 over thenetwork 805. For example, the monitoring application server 890 may beconfigured to monitor events (e.g., alarm events) generated by themonitoring system control unit 810. In this example, the monitoringapplication server 890 may exchange electronic communications with thenetwork module 814 included in the monitoring system control unit 810 toreceive information regarding events (e.g., alarm events) detected bythe monitoring system control unit 810. The monitoring applicationserver 890 also may receive information regarding events (e.g., alarmevents) from the one or more user devices 840, 850.

In some examples, the monitoring application server 890 may route alarmdata received from the network module 814 or the one or more userdevices 840, 850 to the central alarm station server 892. For example,the monitoring application server 260 may transmit the alarm data to thecentral alarm station server 892 over the network 805.

The monitoring application server 890 may store sensor and image datareceived from the monitoring system and perform analysis of sensor andimage data received from the monitoring system. Based on the analysis,the monitoring application server 890 may communicate with and controlaspects of the monitoring system control unit 810 or the one or moreuser devices 840, 850.

The vehicle 860 may be capable of autonomously navigating to adestination without the aid of a human person to operate the vehiclewhile navigating. For example, a human person may input one or moreinstructions such as a destination address, and instruct the autonomousvehicle to travel to the destination address. However, the human personwould not drive the vehicle 860 to the destination address. Instead, theautonomous vehicle 860 may perform actions of driving and navigationusing multiple cameras, multiple sensors, and one or more navigationsystems. In some instances, the autonomous vehicle 860 may be configuredto a manual mode. In such instances, though fully capable of navigatingwithout human interaction, the autonomous vehicle 860 may be operated,in manual mode, by a human user. The vehicle 860 may include anautomobile.

The vehicle 860 can include a network interface that enables the vehicle860 to communicate with one or more other vehicles, one or moremonitoring system control units 810, one or more monitoring applicationservers 890, one or more central alarm station servers, one or moreother cloud-services hosted by one or more server computers, any othercomputer, or the like. For example, the monitoring application server890 may host one or more cloud-based services that can be used tomonitor operations at a property, the garage of a property, or one ormore other properties that are subscribed to the monitoring servicesprovided by the monitoring system provider. The monitoring applicationserver 890 may include an application programming interface (API) thatallows the monitoring application server 890 the vehicle 860, one ormore other computers that can communicate with the vehicle 860, or both.Alternatively, or in addition, the API can be included in the monitoringsystem control unit 110.

The central alarm station server 892 is an electronic device configuredto provide alarm monitoring service by exchanging communications withthe monitoring system control unit 810, the one or more mobile devices840, 850, and the monitoring application server 890 over the network805. For example, the central alarm station server 892 may be configuredto monitor alarm events generated by the monitoring system control unit810. In this example, the central alarm station server 892 may exchangecommunications with the network module 814 included in the monitoringsystem control unit 810 to receive information regarding alarm eventsdetected by the monitoring system control unit 810. The central alarmstation server 892 also may receive information regarding alarm eventsfrom the one or more mobile devices 840, 850 and/or the monitoringapplication server 890.

The central alarm station server 892 is connected to multiple terminals892 a and 892 b. The terminals 892 a and 892 b may be used by operatorsto process alarm events. For example, the central alarm station server892 may route alarm data to the terminals 892 a and 892 b to enable anoperator to process the alarm data. The terminals 892 a and 892 b mayinclude general-purpose computers (e.g., desktop personal computers,workstations, or laptop computers) that are configured to receive alarmdata from a server in the central alarm station server 892 and render adisplay of information based on the alarm data. For instance, thecontroller 812 may control the network module 814 to transmit, to thecentral alarm station server 892, alarm data indicating that a sensor820 detected a door opening when the monitoring system was armed. Thecentral alarm station server 892 may receive the alarm data and routethe alarm data to the terminal 892 a for processing by an operatorassociated with the terminal 892 a. The terminal 892 a may render adisplay to the operator that includes information associated with thealarm event (e.g., the name of the user of the alarm system, the addressof the building the alarm system is monitoring, the type of alarm event,etc.) and the operator may handle the alarm event based on the displayedinformation.

In some implementations, the terminals 892 a and 892 b may be mobiledevices or devices designed for a specific function. Although FIG. 8illustrates two terminals for brevity, actual implementations mayinclude more (and, perhaps, many more) terminals.

The one or more user devices 840, 850 are devices that host and displayuser interfaces. For instance, the user device 840 is a mobile devicethat hosts one or more native applications (e.g., the nativesurveillance application 842). The user device 840 may be a cellularphone or a non-cellular locally networked device with a display. Theuser device 840 may include a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet PC, apersonal digital assistant (“PDA”), or any other portable deviceconfigured to communicate over a network and display information. Forexample, implementations may also include Blackberry-type devices (e.g.,as provided by Research in Motion), electronic organizers, iPhone-typedevices (e.g., as provided by Apple), iPod devices (e.g., as provided byApple) or other portable music players, other communication devices, andhandheld or portable electronic devices for gaming, communications,and/or data organization. The user device 840 may perform functionsunrelated to the monitoring system, such as placing personal telephonecalls, playing music, playing video, displaying pictures, browsing theInternet, maintaining an electronic calendar, etc.

The user device 840 includes a native surveillance application 842. Thenative surveillance application 842 refers to a software/firmwareprogram running on the corresponding mobile device that enables the userinterface and features described throughout. The user device 840 mayload or install the native surveillance application 842 based on datareceived over a network or data received from local media. The nativesurveillance application 842 runs on mobile devices platforms, such asiPhone, iPod touch, Blackberry, Google Android, Windows Mobile, etc. Thenative surveillance application 842 enables the user device 840 toreceive and process image and sensor data from the monitoring system.

The user device 850 may be a general-purpose computer (e.g., a desktoppersonal computer, a workstation, or a laptop computer) that isconfigured to communicate with the monitoring application server 890and/or the monitoring system control unit 810 over the network 805. Theuser device 850 may be configured to display a surveillance monitoringuser interface 852 that is generated by the user device 850 or generatedby the monitoring application server 890. For example, the user device850 may be configured to display a user interface (e.g., a web page)provided by the monitoring application server 890 that enables a user toperceive images captured by the camera 830 and/or reports related to themonitoring system. Although FIG. 8 illustrates two user devices forbrevity, actual implementations may include more (and, perhaps, manymore) or fewer user devices.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 840, 850communicate with and receive monitoring system data from the monitoringsystem control unit 810 using the communication link 838. For instance,the one or more user devices 840, 850 may communicate with themonitoring system control unit 810 using various local wirelessprotocols such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, ZigBee, HomePlug (Ethernetover powerline), or wired protocols such as Ethernet and USB, to connectthe one or more user devices 840, 850 to local security and automationequipment. The one or more user devices 840, 850 may connect locally tothe monitoring system and its sensors and other devices. The localconnection may improve the speed of status and control communicationsbecause communicating through the network 805 with a remote server(e.g., the monitoring application server 890) may be significantlyslower.

Although the one or more user devices 840, 850 are shown ascommunicating with the monitoring system control unit 810, the one ormore user devices 840, 850 may communicate directly with the sensors andother devices controlled by the monitoring system control unit 810. Insome implementations, the one or more user devices 840, 850 replace themonitoring system control unit 810 and perform the functions of themonitoring system control unit 810 for local monitoring and longrange/offsite communication.

In other implementations, the one or more user devices 840, 850 receivemonitoring system data captured by the monitoring system control unit810 through the network 805. The one or more user devices 840, 850 mayreceive the data from the monitoring system control unit 810 through thenetwork 805 or the monitoring application server 890 may relay datareceived from the monitoring system control unit 810 to the one or moreuser devices 840, 850 through the network 805. In this regard, themonitoring application server 890 may facilitate communication betweenthe one or more user devices 840, 850 and the monitoring system.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 840, 850 may beconfigured to switch whether the one or more user devices 840, 850communicate with the monitoring system control unit 810 directly (e.g.,through link 838) or through the monitoring application server 890(e.g., through network 805) based on a location of the one or more userdevices 840, 850. For instance, when the one or more user devices 840,850 are located close to the monitoring system control unit 810 and inrange to communicate directly with the monitoring system control unit810, the one or more user devices 840, 850 use direct communication.When the one or more user devices 840, 850 are located far from themonitoring system control unit 810 and not in range to communicatedirectly with the monitoring system control unit 810, the one or moreuser devices 840, 850 use communication through the monitoringapplication server 890.

Although the one or more user devices 840, 850 are shown as beingconnected to the network 805, in some implementations, the one or moreuser devices 840, 850 are not connected to the network 805. In theseimplementations, the one or more user devices 840, 850 communicatedirectly with one or more of the monitoring system components and nonetwork (e.g., Internet) connection or reliance on remote servers isneeded.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 840, 850 are usedin conjunction with only local sensors and/or local devices in a house.In these implementations, the system 800 only includes the one or moreuser devices 840, 850, the sensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830,and the robotic devices 880 and 882. The one or more user devices 840,850 receive data directly from the sensors 820, the module 822, thecamera 830, and the robotic devices 880 and 882 and sends data directlyto the sensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830, and the roboticdevices 880 and 882. The one or more user devices 840, 850 provide theappropriate interfaces/processing to provide visual surveillance andreporting.

In other implementations, the system 800 further includes network 805and the sensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830, and the roboticdevices 880 and 882 are configured to communicate sensor and image datato the one or more user devices 840, 850 over network 805 (e.g., theInternet, cellular network, etc.). In yet another implementation, thesensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830, and the robotic devices 880and 882 (or a component, such as a bridge/router) are intelligent enoughto change the communication pathway from a direct local pathway when theone or more user devices 840, 850 are in close physical proximity to thesensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830, and the robotic devices 880and 882 to a pathway over network 805 when the one or more user devices840, 850 are farther from the sensors 820, the module 822, the camera830, and the robotic devices 880 and 882. In some examples, the systemleverages GPS information from the one or more user devices 840, 850 todetermine whether the one or more user devices 840, 850 are close enoughto the sensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830, and the roboticdevices 880 and 882 to use the direct local pathway or whether the oneor more user devices 840, 850 are far enough from the sensors 820, themodule 822, the camera 830, and the robotic devices 880 and 882 that thepathway over network 805 is required. In other examples, the systemleverages status communications (e.g., pinging) between the one or moreuser devices 840, 850 and the sensors 820, the module 822, the camera830, and the robotic devices 880 and 882 to determine whethercommunication using the direct local pathway is possible. Ifcommunication using the direct local pathway is possible, the one ormore user devices 840, 850 communicate with the sensors 820, the module822, the camera 830, and the robotic devices 880 and 882 using thedirect local pathway. If communication using the direct local pathway isnot possible, the one or more user devices 840, 850 communicate with thesensors 820, the module 822, the camera 830, and the robotic devices 880and 882 using the pathway over network 805.

In some implementations, the system 800 provides end users with accessto images captured by the camera 830 to aid in decision making. Thesystem 800 may transmit the images captured by the camera 830 over awireless WAN network to the user devices 840, 850. Because transmissionover a wireless WAN network may be relatively expensive, the system 800uses several techniques to reduce costs while providing access tosignificant levels of useful visual information.

In some implementations, a state of the monitoring system and otherevents sensed by the monitoring system may be used to enable/disablevideo/image recording devices (e.g., the camera 830). In theseimplementations, the camera 830 may be set to capture images on aperiodic basis when the alarm system is armed in an “Away” state, butset not to capture images when the alarm system is armed in a “Stay”state or disarmed. In addition, the camera 830 may be triggered to begincapturing images when the alarm system detects an event, such as analarm event, a door opening event for a door that leads to an areawithin a field of view of the camera 830, or motion in the area withinthe field of view of the camera 830. In other implementations, thecamera 830 may capture images continuously, but the captured images maybe stored or transmitted over a network when needed.

1. A monitoring system for monitoring a property comprising: one or moreprocessors; and one or more computer storage media storing instructionsthat are operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to causethe one or more processors to perform operations comprising: obtaining,by the monitoring system, monitoring system data that is generated byone or more first monitoring system components; determining, by themonitoring system and based on the monitoring system data, a currentoccupancy of a vehicle; determining, by the monitoring system and basedon the current occupancy of the vehicle, whether a vehicle access pointis to be monitored; and in response to determining, by the monitoringsystem and based on the current occupancy of the vehicle, that thevehicle is not occupied by a human occupant, using one or more secondmonitoring system components to monitor the vehicle access point.
 2. Themonitoring system of claim 1, the operations further comprising: inresponse to determining, by the monitoring system and based on thecurrent occupancy of the vehicle, that the vehicle is occupied by ahuman occupant, determining, whether the human occupant is an authorizedhuman occupant; and in response to determining, by the monitoringsystem, that the human occupant is not an unauthorized human occupant,triggering the performance of one or more security operations.
 3. Themonitoring system of claim 2, wherein the one or more securityoperations include: (i) transmitting an alert message to one or moreother components of the monitoring system that alerts the one or moreother components of the monitoring system of the detection of theunauthorized human occupant, (ii) transmitting an alert message to auser device that alerts the user of the user device of the detection ofthe unauthorized human occupant, (iii) transmitting an instruction thattriggers an audible alarm at the property, (iv) transmitting anotification to one or more law enforcement agencies indicating that theunauthorized person has been detected, or (v) transmitting aninstruction that instructs a drone to dispatch and (a) capture images orvideo of the unauthorized human occupant or (b) follow the vehicle. 4.The monitoring system of claim 1, the operations further comprising: inresponse to determining, by the monitoring system and based on thecurrent occupancy of the vehicle, that the vehicle is occupied by ahuman occupant, determining, whether the human occupant is an authorizedhuman occupant; and in response to determining, by the monitoringsystem, that the human occupant is an authorized human occupant,disregarding sensor data and camera data generated by the one or moresecond monitoring system components configured to monitor the vehicleaccess point.
 5. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the one ormore first monitoring system components includes a camera that isinstalled (i) in a garage or (ii) in the vehicle, wherein obtaining, bythe monitoring system, monitoring system data that is generated by oneor more first monitoring system components comprises: obtaining, by themonitoring system, an image that is generated by the camera, and whereindetermining, by the monitoring system and based on the monitoring systemdata, a current occupancy of the vehicle comprises: determining, by themonitoring system and based on the obtained image, the current occupancyof the vehicle.
 6. The monitoring system of claim 5, whereindetermining, by the monitoring system and based on the obtained image,the occupancy of the vehicle comprises: determining, by the monitoringsystem, whether the obtained image depicts a human object.
 7. The systemof claim 1, wherein the one or more first monitoring system componentsincludes one or more sensors installed in the vehicle, whereinobtaining, by the monitoring system, monitoring system data that isgenerated by one or more first monitoring system components comprises:obtaining, by the monitoring system, human occupancy data from thevehicle, wherein the human occupancy data indicates whether there is ahuman object present in the vehicle, and wherein determining, by themonitoring system and based on the monitoring system data, a currentoccupancy of the vehicle comprises: determining, by the monitoringsystem and based on the human occupancy data, whether the vehiclecurrently includes a human occupant.
 8. The monitoring system of claim1, wherein using one or more second monitoring system components tomonitor the vehicle access point comprises: obtaining, by the monitoringsystem, camera data representing one or more images of the vehicleaccess point; and determining, by the monitoring system, whether thecamera data depicts one or more objects within a vicinity of the vehicleaccess point.
 9. The monitoring system of claim 8, the operationsfurther comprising: in response to determining, by the monitoringsystem, that the camera data depicts one or more objects within thevicinity of the vehicle access point, triggering the performance of oneor more security operations.
 10. The monitoring system of claim 9,wherein the one or more security operations include: (i) transmitting analert message to one or more other components of the monitoring systemthat alerts the one or more other components of the monitoring system ofthe detection of the one or more objects within the vicinity of thevehicle access point; (ii) transmitting an alert message to a userdevice that alerts the user of the user device of the detection of theone or more objects within the vicinity of the vehicle access point;(iii) transmitting an instruction that triggers an audible alarm at theproperty; (iv) transmitting a notification to one or more lawenforcement agencies that alerts the one or more law enforcementagencies of the detection of the one or more objects within the vicinityof the vehicle access point; or (v) transmitting an instruction thatinstructs a drone to dispatch and (a) capture images or video of the oneor more detected objects or (b) follow the one or more detected objects.11. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein using one or more secondmonitoring system components to monitor the vehicle access pointcomprises: disregarding sensor data generated by one or more motionssensors installed in a garage at the property; obtaining, by themonitoring system, camera data representing one or more images of thevehicle access point; and determining, by the monitoring system, whetherthe camera data depicts one or more objects within a vicinity of thevehicle access point.
 12. The monitoring system of claim 11, theoperations further comprising: determining, by the monitoring system,that the one or more objects detected within the vicinity of the vehicleaccess point includes a human object; and in response to determining, bythe monitoring system, that the one or more objects detected within thevicinity of the vehicle access point includes a human object, performingfacial recognition analysis of the human object.
 13. The monitoringsystem of claim 1, wherein the one or more second monitoring systemcomponents includes a camera, and wherein using one or more secondmonitoring system components to monitor the vehicle access pointcomprises: generating, by the camera, camera data representing one ormore images of the vehicle access point; determining, by the camera,that the camera data depicts one or more objects within a vicinity ofthe vehicle access point; and transmitting, by the camera and to themonitoring system, data indicating that an object has been detectedwithin a vicinity of the vehicle access point.
 14. The monitoring systemof claim 13, wherein determining, by the camera, that the camera datadepicts one or more objects within a vicinity of the vehicle accesspoint comprises: obtaining, by the camera, a set of features based onthe camera data generated by the camera; determining, by the camera,whether the set of features are within a predetermined similarity levelof a stored model representing one or more reference objects; and inresponse to determining, by the camera, that the set of feature arewithin a predetermined similarity level of the stored model,transmitting, by the camera and to the monitoring system, dataindicating that an object has been detected within a vicinity of thevehicle access point.
 15. A computer-implemented method for monitoring aproperty comprising: obtaining, by a monitoring system, monitoringsystem data that is generated by one or more first monitoring systemcomponents; determining, by the monitoring system and based on themonitoring system data, a current occupancy of a vehicle; determining,by the monitoring system and based on the current occupancy of thevehicle, whether a vehicle access point is to be monitored; and inresponse to determining, by the monitoring system and based on thecurrent occupancy of the vehicle, that the vehicle is not occupied by ahuman occupant, using one or more second monitoring system components tomonitor the vehicle access point.
 16. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 15, the method further comprising: in response to determining, bythe monitoring system and based on the current occupancy of the vehicle,that the vehicle is occupied by a human occupant, determining, whetherthe human occupant is an authorized human occupant; and in response todetermining, by the monitoring system, that the human occupant is anunauthorized human occupant, triggering the performance of one or moresecurity operations.
 17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15,the method further comprising: in response to determining, by themonitoring system and based on the current occupancy of the vehicle,that the vehicle is occupied by a human occupant, determining, whetherthe human occupant is an authorized human occupant; and in response todetermining, by the monitoring system, that the human occupant is anauthorized human occupant, disregarding sensor data and camera datagenerated by the one or more second monitoring system componentsconfigured to monitor the vehicle access point.
 18. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein using one or moresecond monitoring system components to monitor the vehicle access pointcomprises: obtaining, by the monitoring system, camera data representingone or more images of the vehicle access point; and determining, by themonitoring system, whether the camera data depicts one or more objectswithin a vicinity of the vehicle access point.
 19. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 18, the method further comprising:in response to determining, by the monitoring system, that the cameradata depicts one or more objects within the vicinity of the vehicleaccess point, triggering the performance of one or more securityoperations.
 20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein theone or more security operations include: (i) transmitting an alertmessage to one or more other components of the monitoring system thatalerts the one or more other components of the monitoring system of thedetection of the one or more objects within the vicinity of the vehicleaccess point; (ii) transmitting an alert message to a user device thatalerts the user of the user device of the detection of the one or moreobjects within the vicinity of the vehicle access point; (iii)transmitting an instruction that triggers an audible alarm at theproperty; (iv) transmitting a notification to one or more lawenforcement agencies that alerts the one or more law enforcementagencies of the detection of the one or more objects within the vicinityof the vehicle access point; or (v) transmitting an instruction thatinstructs a drone to dispatch and (a) capture images or video of the oneor more detected objects or (b) follow the one or more detected objects.